
Class 
Book. 



IV? til 



Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSOi 






HE 




History 



o 





or 



Atlantic Gity 



ALU. 

1899 



SECONH OOPV. 
I8a9. 




TENNESSE AVE 
-r- -^ ^r- ^ ■ V FR0 "> THE BEACH J*. 

m^. , 1 VIEW FROM Light House in 1898. » ^- -- ..it- «^^T 

ysFiRST Big Wheel. ■ ^^-^ . -^ % f" 




NL.ET FROM THE L16HTHOUSE 



IN DAYS OF OLD" 



SPECIAL EDITION FOR THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMOEOPATHY 



The Daily Union 



HISTORY OF 



ATLANTIC CITY, N.J 



CONTAINING SKETCHES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT OF ATLANTIC CITY 

AND COUNTY. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

SPECIALLY PREPARED 



BY 

I 

JOHN F. HALL 



AND 



GEORGE W. BLOODGOOD 



ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE 

DAILY LNION PRINTING COMPANY 

ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. 

1899 

c 



Fl4-4r 



38155 



COPYRIGHTED JUNE, l8gr, BY JOHN F. HALL 



Twoconet received. 




UW\ 



^ /O 



Cable of Contents. 



PAGE 



Introduction 7 

The Earliest Settlers 9 

Atlantic City Before the Railroad 11 

First Visit and the First Train 13 

The First Railroad 17 

Land Company and Surf Hotel Association 25 

Building of the Narrow ( iauge 31 

The West Jersey Railroad 35 

The Climate t,j 

The Invalid 39 

( )ur City Water Supply 43 

Gravity System of Sewerage 51 

Our Cottage Homes 54 

Atlantic City Hotels 59 

Easter at the Shore 63 

The Boardwalk and Ocean Piers 69 

Our Public Schools 75 

Some of the Leading Churches 8i 

Great Advance in Real Estate 91 

Atlantic City Homoeopathic Club 05 

Three National Flanks 105 

Cost of City Government 1 07 

Beautiful Lougport 109 

Golf at the Country Club 1 1 1 

Neighboring Brigantine 113 

On Bay and Ocean 1:5 

City Officials, 1899 — 1900 117 



Cist of Illustrations. 



BANKS 104 

BEACH FRONT VIEWS. 

Bell Buoy 113 

Boardwalk and Steel Tier 71 

Boardwalk and Young's Pier. . . 70 

Net Haul on Young's Pier 72 

Old Time Bathers 29 

Old Whaler Beached 10 

Sail Boat in Clouds 23 

Scenes at the Inlet 24 

BUILDINGS. 

Allen's New Store 10fi 

I'.aehavaeh's Block His 

CHURCHES so. 85 

COUNTRY CLUB Ill 

IIO.NKEOl'ATHIC CUB. 

Baily. A. W 96 

Balliet, L. Dow 100 

Corson, \V. A 100 

Cromwell. Lydia H 99 

i irosby, Geo. W 97 

Crosby, O. H '.is 

Fleming, John R 95 

Gardiner, W. G 99 

Munson. M. 1 07 

Sooy, W. (' 101 

Westney, A. W 9S 

Youngman, M. D 101 

LEADING HOTELS. 

Galen Hall 103 

[slesworth 30 

Luray 21 

Rudolf 110 

St. Chafes' 50 

Schautler's 60 

Seaside 112 

Shelbourne 62 

Traymore 116 

United States 59 

Windsor 16 

OLD LANDM IRKS 

Dennis Cottage 94 

Doxisrhty's Cabir 9 



First City Hall 52 

Friends' Meeting House 89 

House of Andrew Leeds 11 

House of John Leeds 12 

House of James Leeds 12 

House of Chalkley Leeds (First 

Mayor) 38 

House of Ryan Adams 114 

In Days of Old (Frontispiece.) 

Mansion House 93 

Old Ocean House 46 

Old School House 102 

Old Surf House 26 

Mews of Long Ago 92 

PRIVATE RESIDENCES. 

Adams. ('. .1 65 

Allen, George 40 

Champion. John B 56 

Crosby, Geo. W., M. D 57 

Currie, Geo. F 55 

Down. L. A 56 

Evans. Charles .",7 

Evans, Hon. Lewis 53 

Fleming. John R., M. V) 53 

Godfrey. Carlton. Esq 53 

Godfrey, B. C, Esq 57 

Hemsley. Fred 55 

Jacobs, Mrs 66 

Jordan, A. M 64 

Kelley, S. H 54 

Munson. M. L.. M.l> 53 

North. James. M. 1) 47 

Petroff. E. J 40 

Quigley. F. P 45 

Reed, E. L., M. D 5S 

Somers. ('apt. Samuel 6S 

Sweigard, A. L 53 

Thompson, Hon. Jos 56 

(Jpham, A. B 44 

Wahl, Win. F 57 

Young. John L 56 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS 57 

PUMPING STATION 51 



Introduction. 

^- 

UNDREDS nf bright writers have found pleasure and profit in 
picturing Atlantic City, these many years, and it is more of a 
pastime than a task for one who, during the last twenty years has 
been writing of and for the city, to tell the story of its phenomenal 
growth and gratifying prosperity. From the most inaccessible and least 
habitable corner, this island has become the most populous and attractive 
business centre of Atlantic County. From a briar-covered area of duck 
ponds and sand hills, these acres have become a modern city of tine hotels 
and handsome cottages, and attractive stores and business blocks: a 
summer health resort, and winter sanitarium, with regularly laid out and 
paved streets: ample water supply; complete sewerage; electric lights; 
first-class fire protection, and all the appointments of a modern city. 

From being the home and plantation of a stalwart soldier oi the 
Revolution, the scene of shipwrecks, and a resort for an occasional sports- 
man, and summer "beach parties," this strip of sand on the edge of the 
Continent has become famed throughout the world as the most popular 
bathing resort in summer and the most comfortable and satisfactory 
health resort in winter, for persons who would escape the vigorous climate 
of Xorthern cities, and find rest and milder temperature not too far from 
great business centres. 

Natural causes and well warranted enterprises have operated to effect 
the remarkable changes of forty-five vears. The decline of Atlantic 
County in thrift, and manufacturing enterprises, is not less striking than 
the rise of Atlantic City like a Phoenix from forbidding sand dunes to be 
what it is to-day. , 

English Quakers and their associates, two hundred years ago, took 
possession of West Jersey in search of religious liberty, and laid the foun- 
dation for the thrift and progress which has followed through their 
descendants. They dealt justly with the Indians and lived peaceably with 
each other, and made it possible for an educated, religious, and pros- 
perous people to subdue the wilderness, erect glass and iron works, build 
ships out of the cedar swamps, and enjoy the great natural privileges of 
the bays and rivers of the coast. 



In spite of the devastation of the War for Independence the progress 
ol West Jersey continued. Roads were opened, churches built, anil good 
old-fashioned families raised. The sailors and whalers from Long Island 
and Xew England moved down the coast, till the territory now included 
in Atlantic County, at the beginning of the century, had a population of 
four thousand, which fifty years later, when the first railroad was built, 
had increased to ten thousand people. 

To sketch clearly and concisely the honorable record of Atlantic 
County, since it was created, and forge accurately the strong links in the 
interesting chain of events that have made Atlantic City as the stranger 
finds it to-day, its favored location, out in the sea. its sanitary conditions 
and surroundings, its commendable enterprises, its leading citizens, its 
popular features, up-to-date hotels, and unsurpassed railroad facilities will 
be the scope and purpose of this book. 




ilSt., 






TLbc Earliest Settlers. 



PREVK )US to the advent of Jeremiah Leeds upon "Absecond" beach 
as a permanent settler, there had been squatters or temporary 
residents here. Whatever title to the lands there might have 
been at that early day seems to have vested in the numerous 
Steelman family or in the West Jersey proprietors, successors to the King- 
before the War for Independence. 

The abundance of game and fish, the frequency of shipwrecks and 
the undisturbed isolation of the island, must have made it an attractive 
spot for refugees from war or justice. 

Several cabins had been built and clearings made among the sand- 
hills when Jeremiah first stepped foot upon the soil, making it first his 
temporary and in about 17S3 his permanent abode. 

These different clearings or "fields" as they were called, even after 

Leeds little by little acquired title and 
control to almost the entire island, 
lore different names. "Dan's Field." so 
called from its traditional pioneer, Dan 
Ireland, contained several acres and was 
located within gun shot of where the 
Elks' Building now stands. The ruins 
of an old shanty are still remembered by 
surviving members of the Leeds family. 
"Fid's Field," so called from Fred- 
erick Steelman. its first cultivator, was 
between Arctic and Baltic. Tennessee and 
New York avenues, where Richard Hackett built his first house in 1844 
and lived for nearly or quite fifty years. 

"Samp's Field," which took its name from 1 [ezediah Sampson, included 
the present site of Central M. F. Church and the First Baptist Church, on 
Pacific Avenue. 

"Inlet Field" was a leveled clearing, where the old salt works were 
built at the Inlet, at present mostly located in the Inlet Channel outside 
the Boardwalk. 




COUGHTY'S CABIN, BUILT 1740. 



"Beach Field"' was near the corner of Massachusetts and Atlantic 
Avenues, nearer the beach than the "old field" where pioneer Leeds spent 
the last lift\ years of his long life. 

On the inside beach at South Atlantic in an obscure spot was a cave 
or hiding place occupied for a time during the war of 1812 by one Bill 
Day. an alleged deserter, who was employed by llezediah Sampson, wdio 
lived near, ami who would give Day a signal when danger was nigh so he 
could escape to his cave and elude his pursuers. 




OLD WHALER BEACHED. 



10 



Btlantic (Ttt\> before the IRailroafc. 



IX 1852, when the first railroad was agitated, seven houses stood where 
Atlantic ( ity stands to-day. The first of these was the last residence 
of Jeremiah Leeds. It was still occupied by his family and was a frame 
structure standing at the corner of Baltic and Massachusetts Avenue. 
Soon after the death of Jeremiah Leeds in [838 a two-story addition 
was built to it and the widow. "Aunt .Millie." as she was called, then 
forty-eight year- 1 if age, engaged more extensively in the business of 
taking hoarders. Sportsmen from the city then as now found a visit to 
the seashore enjoyable. For ten or a dozen years "Aunt Millie" had the 
only licensed house on the island. In 1853. just before the building of 
the railroad, she rented the property to one Thomas McXeelis and went 
to live with her oldest son. Chalkier, where -In- spent the last twenty 
years of her life. 

Close to it >tood the cedar log house in which patriarch Leeds lived 
many years. This was built of good cedar logs, shingled on the outside 
and sealed with plowed and grooved boards inside. It had two rooms 
below and plenty of chamber room above. An ordinary man could walk 
under the mantle into the large open fireplace which had but one jamb, 
so that large logs could be rolled in and one end burned off. when the 
log could be pulled up into the fire. This saved chopping wood. This 
house was used as a shed and storeroom when a larger frame house was 
built near it later, and was finally torn down in 1853. when the railroad 

building and the cedar logs were con- 
verted into shingles. 

The next house in point of age 
standing at that time was the resi- 
dence of Andrew Leeds, youngesl 
of Jeremiah by his first wife. It stood 
where a section of it still stands as a 
part of the Island House property, near 
the drawbridge. It was built about 1815 
and was a conspicuous landmark from 
house of andrew leeds. the bav side of the island. 




11 



The next house was at the old salt works near the head of Baltic 
\\cnue, where the Inlet channel now flows. It was built ami occupied 
l'\ one John Bryant, who operated the salt works till one John Horner 
came here from Tuckerton. when Bryant moved to Absecon. The building: 
is still standing, being a portion of the residence of Irving Lee on Penn- 
sylvania Avenue. 

Another of those island homes was the residence of Ryan Adams, at 
Delaware and Arctic Avenues. In it the first city election was held. The 
building is still standing-, hut not on the original site. 

The next house was the home of John Leeds, a son of Andrew, at 
Arctic near Indiana Avenue. This building is still in use. 

The sixth house was the home of James Leeds, another son of 
Andrew, at Arctic and Arkansas Avenues. It now forms part of the 
second story of a tenement on Arkansas Avenue above Arctic. 





HOUSE OF JOHN LEEDS 



HOUSE OF JAMES LEEDS. 



The seventh and last house to be built on the island before the 
railroad was that of Richard Hackett and Judith Leeds. It was erected 
in 1844 and was demolished in 1898. It stood in an open square near 
Baltic Avenue between Xew York and Tennessee. 

The first log hut that was occupied by Jeremiah Leeds when he first 
came to this island in 1783 to live permanently, stood near the corner of 
Arctic and Arkansas Avenues in what was afterwards known as the old 
Leeds Field. In this rude cabin the children by his first wife were born. 

Till the narrow gauge railroad was built in 1877. a cedar tree marked 
the site of the fireplace of this first log house, which was torn down when 
Jeremiah built a better one nearer the Inlet. That cedar tree is still [ire- 
served as a post and is the property of Mrs. Abbie Leeds, of this city. 

In addition to these seven houses which stood within the present city 
limits, there were two or three houses at or near South Atlantic City, 
where different families have alwavs lived. 



12 



Zhc ffixst Dtsit anb tbc jfiret Grain. 



THE first visit of the new railroad directors to the site of the proposed 
bathing village was made in June. [852. After a tedious drive 
by carriage across the country they reached Absecon and thence 
proceeded by boat to the forbidding sand hills which little suggested 
the site of a city. 

But the discouraging aspect of the island was made an argument in 
favor of buying up the land at a nominal figure, which the railroad when 
operated would vastly enhance in value. 

The part\. consisting of Samuel Richards. \V. Dwight, Bell and Rich'd 
B. Osborne. Dr. Jonathan Pitney and Gen. Enoch Doughty, landed at the 
Inlet and spent a few hours inspecting the plantation or estate of the 
Leeds family. They came unannounced, received no welcome, and were 
unable even to get dinner before the}' left for the mainland. Some of 
them questioned if the soft meadows would bear up a railroad train or an 
engine, but were assured by the engineer, Richard P.. Osborne, that their 
fears were groundless. The extension of the road from Winslow to the 
ocean all depended upon reaching the beach and successfully establishing 
a "bathing village" thereon. 

At the meeting of the directors, August 25, [852, the location of the 
road to Winslow was settled and John < '. DaCosta succeeded Thomas II. 
Richards as director and was elected President of the small board. 

September 28, 1852, Samuel Richards was chosen Secretary, pro tern., 
and the action of a special committee was confirmed to buy one thousand 
tons of iron at fifty-five dollars per ton. 

December 10, [852, Andrew K. Hay, was elected President to succeed 
John C. DaCosta. who resigned. 

January 7, JN53. DaCosta and Richards were given full power to 
close the contract for ferry-boats and property at the Vine street wharf. 

January 31. 1853, committee reported they had purchased 168 acres 
of Mark Reed at ten dollars per acre on Absecon Peach. 

March 10. 1853. sale of land to Wm. Neligh, at one hundred dollars 
per acre, confirmed, provided he give security that one wing of the United 
States Hotel on the property be completed by July 1st, following. 

n 



Ma) 30, [853. Executive Committee authorized to negotiate five 
hundred thousand dollars of the company's bonds. 

January -'. [854. Train time adopted to and from Atlantic. Richards 
and others to arrange for the opening' of the road, six hundred tickets to 
be issued. 

September 2, [852, the construction work was sublet to P. O'Reilly 
and he two days later received bids from sub-contractors for sections of 
one mile each. 

The crossing of the Camden and Amboy railroads at Tenth Street in 
Camden was effected one night in Jul}'. 1853. 

C >n June 20th of that year the whole arrangement of the contract 
for the construction was given over by 1'. ( 1'Reilly to John H. Osborne. 
civil engineer, who completed the remaining portion, which was about 
three-fourths of the whole contract. Kails were laid at Absecon, and also 
from Camden to Iladdonfield in August, 1853. 

Passenger trains commenced running from Camden to Haddonfield 
the same month and to Winslow, 27 miles, regularly in January, [854. 

The winter had been mild and open and favorable to work on the 
railroad, but in February a storm tide made a clean sweep of the road- 
bed which had been graded on the meadows, and again the following- 
April a terrible northeast storm prevailed for a week, flooding the meadows, 
sweeping away mile,- of the graded roadbed which was ready for the track 
and scattering the ties and wheelbarrows for miles along the coast. This 
was the storm which wrecked the emigrant steamer Powhattan on Long 
Beach. April 10. 1N54. when 311 lives were lost and some eighty bodies 
were picked up and buried in this county. The track was then laid on 
the original sod where it remained securely for twenty-five years. 

Damages were repaired and the whole work completed in time to 
celebrate the opening of the entire line with a special excursion on July 1. 
1854. The pioneer excursion train of nine cars, attached to the new engine 
"Atsion" steamed out of the Lamden station at 0:30 o'clock that morning. 
There were six hundred invited guests aboard, stockholders, merchants 
and newspaper men. from Philadelphia, Camden, and New York. Several 
stops were made at Haddonfield, Waterford, Winslow, and Absecon, where 
salutes with guns and floral welcomes were given in honor of the event. 
It was the consummation of twenty-two months of hard work which 
involved the expenditure of $1,274,030 with only $240. 100 paid in for 
capital stock. The train arrived at the United States Hotel, which then 
faced on Atlantic Avenue, at 12 M., making the run of 58 6 10 miles in 

In mrs. A banquet was spread in the big saloon of the new hotel. 
Judge Grier presided and spirited addresses were made by Henry C. Carey, 

14 



Abraham Browning, J. < . renEyck, Gen. W'yncoop. John C. DaCosta, 
Thomas II. Dudley, and others. Thai evenl was celebrated by the 
survivors twenty-five years later, after a beautiful city had been built and 
when the wisdom and enterprise of the pioneers and promoters could be 
appreciated and their fondesl anticipations be so fully realized. 

Every train that has crossed the meadows since has added more or 
less to the business, wealth and population of the island. 

The train and its guests made the return trip in equally good time, 
leaving the hotel at five or six o'clock. Three days later the road was 
opened to travel and trains run regularly, ddie earnings of the road, the 
first full year, ending with June. 1855, was $122,415, which was more than 
Mi". Richards' first and only estimate, and the expenses were $71,751. 
Robert Frazer was the faithful and trusted Secretary and Treasurer of 
the Company from November, [852, till November, [863, ti years, and 
was then chosen President of the Board, serving till 1 X7 3. He was both 
a lawyer and a civil engineer and filled these important positions with 
great satisfaction. 





WINDSOR HOTEL. 



16 



Zbc fftrst IRailroab. 

THE FOUNDING OF ATLANTIC CITY. 



T' i the charm and fascination of the ocean chiefly musl be attri 
the remarkable growth and prosperity of Atlantic City. In [850. 
when a railroad in this direction first began to be talked about, 
Atlantic County had a population of 8,961. The sea captain- and 
vessel owner-, oystermen and fishermen, along the bay shore, and the 
wood choppers, charcoal burners, and shipbuilders, and glassblowers, along 
the ri\ers. were not clamoring for railroad facilities. Indeed they ga 
the enterprise very little encouragement. They were busy and prosperous, 
with their -hip-, and their industries, carrying glass, iron. wood, char- 
coal, oysters and clam- to New York, and getting supplies in return. 
Tin iations and habits of many of them were more of the sea than 

of the land, especially in matters affecting their livelihood. Limited lines 
of travel were over sandy road-. There were hut a few miles of railroad 
in the State. 

To the sagacity and enterprise chiefly of Philadelphia merchant- and 
manufacturers who owned vast tracts of land with glass and iron works, 
particularly in Camden County, is due the credit under such circumsta 
of sending the first iron horse to this seashore resort, opening up a 
favored and important section, establishing on this island a seashore city, 
and fine farming town- along the line, bringing thousands of immigrants 
and vastly increasing the wealth and population of the territory. 

( If the live and enterprising merchant- who fostered and promoted 
the building of the first railroad, the Richard- family figured conspicuous! 
William Richards, the first of that name ti 1I1 Jersey, 

a grand-011 of Owen Richards, who came to this country from North 
Wale-, before 1718. William Richards was a man of greal physical 
strength and untiring energy. He acquired a vast estate at Batsto, at 
the headwater- of the Mullica river, and prospered as a manufacturer of 
glass and iron, lie -:■ feet four inches in height, and i- said to 

have been as threat in mind and integrity as be was physically. He was 
t!ie father of nineteen children, fourteen -on- and five daughters, by hi- 



two wives. He died at Alt. Holly in 1823, aged 85 years. One of his 
inaii\ sons was Thomas Richards, the father of Samuel, the principal 
promotor of Atlantic City. Thomas became a glass manufacturer on a 
portion of his father's estate, at Jackson, a small village in Camden 
County, near what is now Atco, anil his son Samuel became a partner 
with him i>re\ ions to 1850. 

Main team- were required to do the heavy hauling of the raw material 
for glass and the manufactured products, between Jackson and Philadel- 
phia, and to reduce this hea\ \ expense a railroad from Camden towards 
the seashore began to he talked about before 1850. 

foseph 1'orter. at this time, had glass works at Waterford, and was 
the owner of six thousand acres of land. Andrew K. lla\ and William 
Coffin were making glassware at Winslow and owned land there. William 
W. Fleming owned thirty thousand acres and was engaged in the same 
business at Atsion, a few miles above, ami one Hammonton Coffin had 
owned land and operated a similar plant at the foot of the lake at what 
is now known as "Old Hammonton." Jesse Richards, a brother of Thomas, 
succeeded his father at Batsto. and was actively operating an estate of 
fifty thousand acres, including an iron furnace and glass works. Stephen 
Colwell and W. Dwight Bell operated a similar estate at Weymouth., ten 
miles south from Batsto, covering one hundred thousand acres, belonging 
to- the estate of their father-in-law, Samuel Richards, another sou of 
William. 

Gen. Enoch Doughty, at Absecon, owned an estate of twenty-five 
thousand acres, and was supplying ship timber, gathering tar. and selling 
wood and charcoal. 

Or. Jonathan Pitney had been practicing medicine in Absecon and 
surrounding territory for thirty years when the railroad question began to 
lie agitated in 1850. Since he rode into Absecon on horseback, with his 
saddlebags, from Mendham. Morris County. X. J., one May morning in 
[820 and announced that he had come to stay. Dr. Pitney had become 
one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizen- of Atlantic 
County. He had taken an active part in the creation of Atlantic County 
from a part of old Gloucester in 1837, and had always keen as he 
continued to he till his death, a close personal friend ^i Gen. Enoch 
Doughty, who was High Sheriff of old Gloucester County before the 
division. In 1S44 Dr. Pitney represented Atlantic County in the State 
Constitutional Convention. In 1848 he was a candidate for Congress. 
Fore 1S40 he had agitated and advocated the building of a lighthouse 
for the protection of ships along this dangerous coast. When the railroad 
question came up in 1S50 no man was more prominent or influential 



than he, or helped more to shape matters to speedy conclusions. He 
seems to have been the firsl physician to appreciate the beneficial effecl 
of ocean air upon invalids and the manifold ad antages of a "bathing 
village" upon Absecon beach. 

Dr. Pitnej and Gen. Doughty on their frequenl trips to Philadelphia, 
met am! discussed the railroad project with Andrew K. I lay. Gen. Joseph 
Porter, Thomas and Samuel Richards and others, some of whom questioned 
tlit- advisability of extending the railroad farther than the glassworks al 
W'inslow or the iron works at Weymouth. It was undoubted!) due largely 
to the work and influence of Dr. Pitney that the railroad was continued 
to the- beach, as he seems to have understood the value and importance 
of the coast region better than his contemporaries. 

It was in the little old store of John Doughty on the hill at Absecon 
that Dr. Pitney and Gen. Enoch Doughty dictated the first draft of the 
charter for the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. As they dictated, John 
I loughty, the son. wrote it out. That was in the winter of 1X51. Whether 
this first draft was later revised and amplified l>y Abraham Browning, 
counsel for the incorporators, can only he conjectured. But it was largely 
due to the personal efforts of Dr. Pitney, as well as to the unflagging and 
persistent support of Samuel Richards, who followed the hill through 
the Legislature, ami to the resolute advocacy of Assemblyman John A. 
Boyle, of Atlantic County, that the charter became a law March 10, 
1X52. The Camden and Amboy politicians waived their objections at 
last, on the grounds that this "air line" to the coast was an impossible 
scheme that could never he consummated. No railroad without a town 
at the terminus could ever amount to anything. 

The incorporators mentioned in the charter were John W. Mickle, 
Abraham Browning. Samuel Richards, Joseph Porter, Andrew K. Hay. 
John H. Coffin, John Stranger, [esse Richard-. Thomas II. Richards. 
Edmund Taylor, Joseph Thompson, Robert B. Risley, Enoch Doughty, 
and Jonathan Pitney. 

Samuel Richards had been from the firsl one of the most active of 
these men. He was thirty years of age, of pleasing manners, tireli energ 
perseverance and great ingenuity, being the patentee of several useful 
inventions, lie accomplished what others regarded impossible, and entered 
heart and soul into this enterprise of railroad building. It was Ik who 
on May 22, 1S52, wrote the first letter to engineer Richard B. Osbi 
instructing him to make the preliminary survey as ordered hv the incor- 
porators. .Mr. ( Isborne completed his work on the 18th of June following, 
after which the company was organized and the location of the road 
ordered to he made by the directors. Samuel Richards made the first 

10 



estimate of the probable business of the proposed road, and used it as an 
argument in favor oi the enterprise. 

Some oi the objects of the line which he had in view wore: 

First, i" secure better transportation for the glass works at Jacks 
\\ aterford. Winslow, Batsto, ami Weymouth. 

Second, to convert large tracts of waste lands, owned by his relatives 
and associates into fruit and truck farm-. 

Third, to open up South Jerse) b\ establishing an attractive bathing 
resort at the nearest possible point from Philadelphia. 

\t a meeting oi the director.- held in Philadelphia, June ti. 1852, 
Jesse Richards. Esq., was chosen President, and Andrew 1\. Hay. Secretary. 
The following resolution was adopted: 

Resolved, that John \\ . Mickle, Samuel Richards, Joseph Porter, 
Andrew 1\. Hay, Enoch Doughty, Jonathan Pitney, Jesse Richard-, and 
Abraham Browning, he severally authorized to procure subscriptions :>< the 
capital stock of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad, and report at the next 
meeting of the Company. 

In the diary of the late VV. Dwight Bell, occurs this memorandum. 
"June 22, 1852. Meeting at the house of Samuel Richards. Fifth Street, 
Philadelphia, oi people interested in construction of Camden and Atlantic 
Railroad. Present. Samuel Richards. W. Dwight Bell, Enoch Doughty, 
Jonathan Pitney, Joseph Porter. Stephen Colwell, Thomas Richards, and 
SS< Richards." 

Samuel Richards continued in the Board of Directors twenty-four 
years, and was an active officer as Director or Assistant President. The 
following letter indicates as much. 

Richard B. Osborn, Ess 

Pear Sir: — A resolution was passed at the last meeting oi the Board 
requesting you to prepare for filing in the office oi the Secretary oi State 
that portion of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad commencing where it 
crosses the White Horse Road, and ending at Longacoming. 

Yours respectfully, 

S \MI'K1. RICHARDS. 
Philadelphia. October _> 1 . [852 Sec. pro tent. 

At another meeting of the Board thai same year he offered a n 

lution which was adopted, deciding on the name of "Atlantic City," a 
city on the Atlantic for this resort, as Mr. Osborne had suggested on the 
map which he had prepared. He thought there was as much in a name 
here as in Philadelphia, and by his wise suggestion and prompt action the 




THE LURAY. 
21 



names of the streets and avenues were named for the several States of 
this land of liberty, and the great oceans o\ the world. 

The old minute book of the Company gives a report of the subscrip- 
tions to stock, fifty dollars a share, at the meeting held June 24, 1852, in 
the Arch Street House, Philadelphia. 

Shares Shares. 

Colwell & Bell 400 John Lucas 50 

Thomas Richards 200 John 11. Doughty 1 

Joseph Porter 200 Daniel Doughty 1 

\ l\. 1 lay 200 Robert B. Leeds 

och Di nighty too Richard 1 lacketi 

VV. W. Fleming 100 Chalklej S. Leeds 

William Coffin too John Leeds 

Jonathan Pitney _\> lames Lee. Is 

Jesse Richards 20 John C. DeCosta 40 

Thomas 11. Richards 20 

At this meeting the following directors were elected: Andrew K. Haw 
( hairman, and Samuel Richards, Secretary. William Coffin, Joseph Porter, 
Thomas 11. Richards, Enoch Doughty, Jonathan Pitney, Stephen Colwell, 
and VV. VV. Fleming. 

The following is an official list of all the Presidents of the Camden 

and Atlantic Railroad: 

August 25, [852, John C. DaCosta. elected President. 

December to, [852, Vndrew l\. Hay, elected President. 

April 1. [853, John C. DaCosta, elected President. 

September 1. 1854, Samuel Richards, elected President pro tern. 

April 6, [855, George VV. Richards, elected President. 

July [3, 1857, John Brodhead, elected President. 

October J- 1 . [863, Joseph W. Cooper, elected President. 

December 18, [863, Robert Frazer, elected President. 

October 23, [873, Andrew 1\. Hay, elected President. 

November 18, 1875, William Massey, elected President pro tern. 

November [8, 1875, Samuel Richards, elected Assistant President. 

March 10. [876, John Lucas, elected President. 

October 25, 1S77. Charles D. Freeman, elected President. 

February 22, [883, William L. Elkins, elected President. 

Dr. Pitney and Gen. Enoch Doughty were instrumental in securing 
subscriptions to shares of stock throughout the County. From original 

papers the following names and amounts are copied: 



Shai ■ 

I 'eter Boice, Absecon 5 

Joshua Gorton, Mays Landing.. _> 

|(»lm Horner, Absecon 5 

fohn Albertson, Blue Anchor... 20 

J< ihn ( '.. Shreve, Blue Anchor ro 

l harles < iollins, Blue Anchor. . 4 

I )aniel I (aker 5 

John I )oughty, Leedsville 1 

David I )i nighty, Leedsville 1 

Joseph Merrit 1 

fames English, Smiths Landing. 1 



Sli.it 

John Walker, Mays Landing.. . 1 

Ebenezer Applegate, Absecon 1 

Felix I .eeds, I .eeds Point 2 

Augustus Turner, Leeds Point.. 

• harles < '.. Murphy, Absecon ... 3 

I [ezadiah Sampson, Absecon. ... 1 

Jonas 1 [igbee 1 

I Janiel Bowen, M 1 iun1 I 'leasanl . 1 

Frederick Chamberlin, Absecon.. 3 

Edward Wilson 1 

Km k'Ii ( 1 irdet \ 2 




SAIL BOAT IN CLOUDS. 




SCENES KJ THE ' 



Cbe Eand Company and Surf fiotel Association. 

^- 

IN connection with the railroad company it was largely, if not chiefly due 
to Samuel Richards that the Camden and Atlantic Land Company was 
formed, also the Surf House Association— the first to share -nine of 

the advantages in the advancing values of real md the 

provide a fine hotel to attract visiting thousands so that the railroad would 
have more business, and n allies would more rapidly advance. 

of these proved wis cious and successful enterpri 

The Act to incorporate the latter company was approved March jo. 
1853. Its incorporators and first directors were William Coffin, John < ',. 
Da 1 Samuel Richards, William W. Fleming, Daniel Deal, W. Dwight 

Bell, Joseph Porter, Jonathan Pitney and Andrew K. Hay. 

The following portion of an addre 1 to the stockholders, and 

no doubt written by Mr. Richards in [853, fully and accurately de 
the geography and condition- of this island at that tin. 

"The principal portion of the lands now in pi 1 and contracted 

for l>y the company, lie in intermediate sections upon the beach, and 
comprise about one thousand acres, a; an aver of ten dollars per 

acre. 

"To give an idea of the greatly enhanced value of these land- since 
projection of the railroad, bona fii - have heen made of the land 

adjoinii \ of the company land not more advantageously 1< 

at one hundred to three hundred dollars per acre, and we consider thi 
prices now no approximation to the value of a portion of the land 
purchased by the company. 

"< Mir land? are situated upon an island at the eastern terminus of the 
Camden and Atlantic Railroad, in the County of Atlantic, about fifty- 
seven miles south of east from thi- city, and about four mile- from the 
main land, directly upon the ocean. This island is about ten miles in 
length, and the northern portion, for about two mile-, i- half a mile in 
width — the southern portion being much narrower. 

"It is separated from the land by the Hay of Absecon, a vast 1 
of meadows, and an inland channel extending along the coast for a distance 
ighty miles, commencing at I ape May. and running north. The rail- 

25 



road, when completed, will form an easy communication with this city 
for an extensive districl of country, well cultivated, improved, and thickly 
settled, the principal means of communication with which is now by coast- 
ing vessels to New York; the great distance to this city by bad roads 
rendering il almost inaccessible. 

"Across the meadows and this stream, hv an embankment and swivel 
bridge, the railroad reaches the island at a point about two miles south 
of the Inlet upon which it has its terminus on twenty-five feet of water, 
.liter running through the center of the island in a parallel line with the 
ocean. 

"This portion of the island is covered with a beautiful growth of 
timber, which is now being trimmed — the undergrowth removed — the 
lands graded and drained — laid out in streets and walks, which, when com- 
pleted, will render it very attractive. 

"These groves are dense and extensive, and will form a beautiful 
retreat from the scorching sun and sands, from which nature rarely provides 
a shelter upon the seaside. 

"Adjoining one of these line groves, and near the beach, an hotel 
is now being erected, which, when completed, will equal in beauty, con- 
venience, comfort, and situation those to be found upon any other place 
on our coast. One wing of this hotel (of which there are to be two. with 
an extensive front), will be read) for visitors before the end of summer. 

"The arrangement is such, that the railroad is located in front of this 
and other hotels that will be erected, and the visitors will be landed by 




THE OLD SURF-HOUSE. 
26 



cars directly to their point of destination. This will save much trouble 
and confusion, and add much to the comfort of the throngs winch will 
seek this island during- the heat of summer. 

"The Inlet (upon which the railroad terminates) connecting the Bay 
of Absecon with the ocean, is about three-fourths of a mile in width, with 
a straight channel and outlines distinctly marked, forming an easy and 
safe entrance to the spacious bay, with good anchorages, and affording a 
safe harbor, shelter from all winds, for large fleets of coasting vessels. 

"A bar at the mouth of this inlet, which is covered from ten to twelve 
feet at low water, precludes the entrance of vessels of largest draft of 
water; this harbor is never ice-bound during the severest winters, and by 
the way of railroad will he within one and a half hours of Philadelphia. We 
have good assurance that when the road is completed an appropriation 
for a lighthouse, and for improvements of harbors, making it practicable 
for the larger size of vessels, can be obtained from Congress, and it will 
thus be made a complete winter harbor for the city of Philadelphia and 
greatly tend to promote our shipping trade. 

"We need only ask the question, whether a location like this will not 
grow into importance? It will be a direct, cheap, and quick route to the 
eastern ports, and will be always accessible when our river may be entirely 
obstructed with ice, as it is too frequently the case during winter. 'I he- 
bay abounds with shell and other fish of many varieties, which are caughl 
in large quantities; and to those fond of angling and sailing, win may 
seek pleasure here, it will contribute its full share of enjoyments. The 
meadows are the resort of all the different species of game usually found 
upon the seacoast, and form very extensive gunning grounds. The scenery 
from the beach is diversified and quite interesting. 

"The ocean rolling in upon the front, and breaking upon the beach 
for a distance of ten miles, in an almost straight line — the Inlet, with its 
entrance marked by the spray, dashing and leaping upon the bar far out 
in the ocean — the bay and meadows forming an immense expansi oi 
green and blue — the undulating outline in the distance, dotted with farms 
and improvements, combine to render the location one of the most plea ant 
to be found upon the seacoast. 

"The surface and beach are certainly unsurpassed, if at all equalled, 
upon our coast. The breakers are similar to those at Cape May; but 
extend along the entire beach for a distance of many miles; the strand 
is entirely level and smooth, at low water forms a drive of two hundred 
feet in width (so gentle is the slope) for a distance of ten miles. 

"The country through which the road passes i- proverbial for its 
pure air — its fine water — and extreme healthfulness. The land in many 

27 



places along the road is highh 



ments 
\\ here 



nsceptible of improvement, and can be 
purchased at moderate prices. Situated 
upon this great thoroughfare, it must 
be largely enhanced in value at an early 
period. The land company, with their 
capital of $100,000, will be enabled to 
secure a large amount of these lands (a 
course which they intend pursuing) 
upon which, in a short time, they will 
be enabled to realize a handsome ad- 
vance. 

"These lands, sold to actual settlers, 
cultivated and improved, will tend to 
swell the revenue of the road." 

The "Surf House Association of 
Atlantic City"' was incorporated by Act 
of the Legislature March 4, 1857. Its 
incorporators were George W. Richards, 
John C. DaCosta; William A. Rhodes, 
E. I-'.. Bondissot, William C. Milligan, 
Daniel Heal. Isaac Lloyd, Andrew K. 
Hay, John 1.. Newbold, Samuel Richards. 
P. Maison, William 11. Miller, George 1'. 
DaCosta, J. Freas, Thomas Allibone, 
1. J. Slocum, Charles Wurts, Simon 
Cameron, and William 11. Yeaton. 

The Surf House, which was built 
bv this association, was a large, fine 
two-story building, occupying a full 
square i-^i ground hounded 1>\ Atlantic, 
Pacific, Kentucky an.! Illinois Avenues. 
It was built in 1854 and conducted with 
-leu advantage to the city, if not to 
its owner i^v man} years til! [880 when 
the property was sold to Messrs. Morris 
and Archer for $30,000. They sold and 
scattered the buildings to .1 do: en widely 
different sections of the city where they 
arc -till used as stores, hotels or tene- 
and divided the land into building lots, opening Mt. \ ernon Avenue, 
the main entrance and principal section of the large hotel stood,. 




- 



The Camden and Atlantic Land Company, whose policj of encour 
aging' early settlers bj selling lots on eas) terms promoted improvement, 
and whose histor) is so intimately associated with this city, still continues 
its work of development and has erected a hotel and cottages, graded and 
graveled streets at Ventnor, the southern suburb of Atlantic City. The 
Presidents of this company have been: April 22, 1853, William Coffin; 
June 22, [854, William C. Milligan; March 20, [868, William A. Rhodes; 
March 20, 1X73. Andrew 1\. Hay; January 9, [874, Samuel Richards, until 
his death February 21, [895, when John B. lla\ was elected his successor. 




OLD TIME BATHERS 



29 




HOTEL ISLESWORTH. 
30 



Butlbtng of the "IRarvow (Bauoc." 



■ ~~ . ATv'T .V in 1876, owing to dissensions and differences among some 
of the directors of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company, 
I Samuel Richards, William Massey, Charles R. Cohvell and W. 

Dwight Bell withdrew from the Board of Directors. Mr. Massey 
had been elected President of the Board of Directors and he had appointed 
Mr. Richards Assistant President of the road, when differences with other 
directors caused these four to resign. After his twenty years of experience 
Mr. Richards saw a better opening in the operation of a second line than 
he did the first. They associated with themselves as directors of the new 
narrow gauge line James M. Hall, J. Lapsley Wilson. John E. Shaw, John 
j. Sickler. Levi C. Albertson, Tbos. C. Garrett, John J. ( Gardner, Melvin 
R. Morse and Jacob G. Campbell. 

Samuel Richards was ['resident: H. B. Linderman. Secretary and 
Treasurer; Samuel H. Grey, Solicitor; John J. Sickler, Chief Engineer and 
Theodore F. Wurts, Consulting Engineer. 

The new company was organized under the general railroad law 
that was enacted in 1873, providing "'that the actual amount of money 
borrowed by any railroad organized under this act shall not exceed the 
actual amount paid in cash by the subscribers to the capital stuck." 

The company was organized for the purpose of building and operating 
a narrow-gauge railroad from Camden to Atlantic City, fifty-four miles, 
connecting with Philadelphia by steamboat. The original intention was 
for a three-foot gauge, but this was finally changed to three and one-half 
feet with Bessemer steel rails, fort}" pounds to the lineal yard, instead of 
the standard broad gauge of four feet eight and one-half inches. 

A few capitalists who had thoroughly investigated the cost and pros- 
pects of the new line at once subscribed to a sufficient amount of stock 
to secure its completion. The original estimate of the cost of building and 
equipment was about $700,000, and all the contracts at the finish amounted 
to less than that sum. 

The Camden and Atlantic road had cost up to that time $2,425,478. 
or $40,000 per mile. The capital stock was S1.24S.150. and debt Si. 1(13,658. 

3* 



The estimated cost of the Narrow Gauge was less than $13,000 per mile, 
with $150,000 for rolling stock. 

rhe population of Atlantic Cit) in twent) three years, since the firsl 
road was built, had increased from half a dozen families to ;.ivn people. 
The gross receipts of the old road had increased from Si 17.000 in (856 
to $564,000 in 1S70. and the stead) growth of traffic with towns along 
the line as well as at the terminus was \er\ encouraging. In the building 
K^i the new road as for years he had been in the management i>i the old, 
Mr. Richards was the active spirit. 

\hont the first work done on the new line was in Atlantic City, 
where the late John 1.. Bryant built a wharf on the west side of the 
rhoroughfare for the landing of ties and timber sent from Philadelphia bj 
steamboat for use on the meadows. 

Ground was first broken in March and on April 1. 1S77. active opera- 
tions began at both ends of the line. Day and night the contractors 
pushed forward the work tinder the vigorous personal supervision i<i Samuel 
Richards. Never before except in war or special emergency did railroad 
building proceed with such speed. 

In ninety days the road was built. Over the meadows the cross ties 
were laid on timbers which made a solid foundation ti'l gravel could be 
filled in. There were some annoying delays and obstructions, especially on 
the meadows where 1 ; .. A. Doughty, one of the directors of the "Id road. 
owned a strip o\ land. Quietly one night one hundred men proceeded 
and by laying a temporal) track on the turnpike an engine was step by 
step pulled across by the men to the opposite side so that the work 
beyond could proceed till commissioners adjusted the damages for the 
disputed property. 

(hi Saturday, July 7. 1877. the first trip i<i the officers and directors 
with a few invited friends was made from Camden over the new line. The 
train started at [.43 P. M.. in charge of conductor Stewart Drake, formerly 
of the Lehigh Road. 

Owing to several stops and delay in laying the last rails and driving 
the last spike, the train did not reach Atlantic City till o P. M. A large 
number of people welcomed it in the depot with demonstrations of delight, 
believing it to be an important event in the history t>i the city, which it 
proved to he. 

fhe party was entertained at Congress Hall that night by the late 
Col. Geo. \\ . llinkle. and made the return trip next day, leaving this 
city at S.23 A. M. and reaching Camden at [.25 1'. M. 

Considerable feeling was engendered among the people in this city 
and along the line by the building of the opposition road. Some bitterly 



opposed the new enterprise. I lie matter was discussed in public prim 
and in public meetings. Many naturally espoused and contended for the 
interests of the pioneer line. 

Editor A. 1.. English, of the Review, which till that time had been 
the only newspaper in Atlantic City, espoused the cause of the "old 
reliable" with considerable spirit, but mosl people fell that railroad rivalry 
would help the town and they were not mistaken. 

The location of the depol among the sand hills at Arkansas and 
Atlantic avenues was considered by some as too far down town. Excepting 
the Island J louse and the Seaview Excusion Hou e, there were very few 
buildings in that part of the island at that time, but subsequent events 
proved the wisdom of thai -election. 

I he landing of thousands of passengers in the new station made •• ttei 
streets in the vicinity a necessity, increased business, made a market for 
real estate, started new lumber yards, encouraged improvements after the 
dull and disappointing se; on ol i' v '7'>- 

The old Camden and Amboj statesmen who ruled New Jersey when 
that was the only railroad in the Stale, permittee! the Legislature to grant 
the charter for the Camden and Atlantic road on March [9, [852, because 
they laughed and scoffed at the idea of building a railroad thai had "only 
one end to it." As there was no town or business at the ocean terminus 
the absurd charter became a law. 

When the Narrow Gauge road was built as a separate and independent 
line, the idea was to construct a road especially adapted to the peculiar 
character of seashore travel and to the li,L;lit and variable business of towns 
along the line. 

Lighter and much less expensive rolling stock would cosl less and 
greatly reduce operating expenses. It was argued effectively that engines 
weighing ten to twenty tons instead of thirty to thirty-five, and freight 
cars weighing 6,000 lbs. instead of [8,000 lbs. would be much better 
adapted to the business of the country which this line was to serve and 
for the safe and speedy through traffic. 

The new line was built with as little delay and e possible, 

so that when completed it was able to do business on a greatly reduced 
schedule of prices. 

The reduction in fares and freight rate- was quite decided, which 
encouraged travel, popularized the line and brought hundred new 

people to the seashore. 

Round trip tickets, which, had been three dollar-, single fare two 
dollars, were sold for one dollar and a quarter and one dollar. Summer 
excursion tickets sold for one dollar and at time- fifty cents for the round 

•3 33 



trip. Vearlj tickets sold for $20, m-~ic.nl of $40, and for a time passes 
were given to tin- proprietors of hotels and boarding houses with twenty 
or more sleeping rooms. Freight was carried at ten, twelve, fourteen and 
sixteen cents per one hundred pounds. Horses were brought down at 
two dollars per head, or one dollar and a quarter per head in carload lot-. 
The result was thai the rolling stock was barely sufficient for the demands 
upon it. and the crowds in the city were so large at times, especially over 
Sunday, as to nearly exhaust the supply ^i meat. milk, bread and. pro- 
visions in stock. All previous records were exceeded, new capital and 
enterprise were invited and expansion became popular. 

The Narrow Gauge was formally opened lor traffic July 25th. with 
a special excursion by some eight hundred invited guests to Atlantic City. 

The company began business with eight first-class locomotives forty 
passenger cars, two smoking cars, two baggage cars, twenty freight box 
cars and forty construction cars. 

Pier S. at the foot of Walnut Street, was seemed for the Philadelphia 
terminus or landing oi the steamers that run from the Unison Street wharf 
amden. 

\n excursion house was built at the ocean end of Florida Avenue in 
this city, on a half square of land extending from Pacific avenue to the 
ocean. \ storm tide undermined and wrecked the building before it 
was finished and the lot which cost $5,000 in 1S77 was sold fifteen years 
later For $25,000. It has since been sold for $65,000 and is probably 
valued .11 twice that sum now. 

The company met with reverses and passed into the hands of Charles 

\ » ilwell, as Receiver, July 1 _\ 1S7S. One year later it went into the 

hands of William 11. Gatzmer and G. IV Linderman, trustees for the 

tgage bondholders. 

In September, 1883. the road was sold in foreclosure proceedings to 

George R. Kearcher for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, 

which has since operated it. It was made a standard gauge, double-track 

e and given the finest roadbed and rolling stock. It has maintained its 

nihility and each year increased its business 

While not the financial success at first that its projectors anticipal 
the Narrow Gauge enterprise popular! 1 el to the seashore and gave 

Atlantic Cit) an impetus of prosperity that has continued ever since. 



.<4 



Zbc Most Jersey IRafltoab. 

•a 



rOK twentj three years, 1854 to 1 ^77. Atlantic City had but one 
single track railroad connecting with tin oul ide world. That 
railroad had cost nearlj double the e timated amounl and had 
ruined, financially, all of its original incorporatot e cept Gen 
l noch Doughty, of Mjsecon, and he was a loser in the sum of mi 
thousand dollars. Fortunately, the Camden and Atlantic Land Company 
pledged its valuable holdings to ecure the note and obligation of the 
railroad, 50 as to continue its operation and 1 11 the enterpri 1 

When the Narrow Gauge was buill in 1X77. the permanent popi 
tion of Atlantic < it) was aboul 3,000. I in reduction of lift) pei cent 
in the tarifl schedule, increased number of trains and quicket 
resulted in a general rush to the seashore. Hotels and boarding bo 

too few and too small for the demands upon them. Visit* 
times, walked the treets all night or slept in chairs on porche or in 
pavilions along the beach, unable to secure lodging 

Business of all kinds becami dingly active Real estate advanced 

rapidly in value and building operations were prosecuted with greal vigor. 
In four years from the opening of the Narrow G; 1 population 

of the city had doubled. This wa the ion in 1880, when Gen. W. 

J. Sewell, the ablesl and mosl active railroad man in the Stati 
the Pennsylvania Railwa) interests, " ized the West Jerse) and 
Atlantic Railroad Company, to build a branch from the I ape May line 
al Newfield, 34.4 miles, through Mays Landing and Pleasantville to Atlantic 
( 'ily. 

This third line to the ea was formally opened with a irsion on 

Wednesday. June to. [880. Dinner wa in the new West ' 

Excursion House at the ocean end of Georgia enue. Kddresse ol 

ere made by George Wood, e Judge James 
Buchanan, Hon. Edward Bettle, Mayor Harr) L. Slape, William M; 
of the Narrow Gauge, Edwin E. Reed of the C. & A., Hon. A. Louden 
Snowden, State Senator Gardner and othi 

The Directors of the new Wi I Jersi line were George W01 
1 . • idenl fsrael S dams, George < Pot is, Wm. S. 

35 



Mahlon Hutchinson, Charles P. Stratton, Gen. Mott, Edward A. Warne 
and Benj. F. Lee. 

This third line soon made the name of Atlantic City familiar in every 
ticket office of the great Pennsylvania system throughout the land and 
gave this city a prestige it had never had before. 

There were now three rival railroads connecting Atlantic City with 
Philadelphia, the second largest city in the United States: The Camden 
and Atlantic. 59 miles, opened in [854; the Narrow Gauge, 55 miles. 
opened in [877; and the West Jersey, 63 miles, opened in 1880. 

But the enterprising Directors of the West Jersej road were unable 
to secure the terminal facilities in this city which they needed and 
desired. The (A and A. had a valuable ami exclusive franchise on Atlantic 
\\enne. Cit) Council had granted the Narrow Gauge the privilege of 
a double track on Baltic to Massachusetts Avenues. This put the third 
and last road at a considerable disadvantage. Representatives of this 
company offered to give the cit} S100.000 for the same privileges on 
Atlantic A\ennc as the old road then had. 

The result was that when William 1.. Elkins was elected President 
of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company, February 22, 1883, the 
West Jerse) people had secured a controlling interest in the line that 
owned Atlantic Avenue, the Longport route and the valuable street car 
privileges. 

Both roads since then have been under one management, with com- 
bined and improved terminal facilities. 

In [897 these and all other branches ^i the Pennsylvania system in 
South ferse} were reorganized as the West Terse) and Seashore. 




Hbe Climate. 



OF the climate of Atlantic City a volume could be written, and 
then not tell half of its delightfulness and healthfulness. The 
beach with its many attractions, and the city with its beauty, 
could not bold the many invalids that visit this shore, did they 
not all realize that the climate was the one thing that they required, The 
air is dry, and the barometric and thermometric readings are remarkably 
regular, there being very little variation in atmospheric pressure or tem- 
perature. This is due to freedom from the influence of large bodies of 
fresh water. No river is here pouring its volumes of ice-cold water into 
the ocean, lowering the temperature; and no large fields of ice, broken or 
unbroken, over which the winds must pass and become chilled, here 
abound. The prevailing winds during the summer are from the south 
west; these are seabreezes, are delightfully cool and refreshing-, and do not 
permit the temperature to rise very high. The north and northwest winds 
are likewise dry, and not cold even in winter. They pass for miles ovei 
dry pine barrens, losing much of their moisture; true they are cooler 
than the winter ocean breezes, but they are far from being chilly. 

The atmosphere, as already stated, is dry, the rainfall being less than 
at either New York or Cape May. places representing the extreme points 
of the New Jersey coast, and both influenced by large rivers. Foggy 
days are rare; fogs follow water lines as river or coast, and Atlantic Citj 
being out in the ocean beyond the general coast line of New Jersey 
escapes the fogs that are frequently seen elsewhere. 

There is a mildness and balminess in the air that cannot be expressed 
in words, it must be felt to be understood. So pronounced is this, that 
invalids coming here in the winter from snow-bound cities call Atlantic 
City the "Florida of the North;" they unbutton their heavy wraps, walk 
up and down the boardwalk, or along the beach, and thoroughly enjoy 
the climate. 

The question is frequently asked, what are the causes that contribute 
to this delightful climate? In general they are three, two of which have 
heen already mentioned. The topography of the place; there being no 
large body of fresh water near, chilling the air in winter, or saturating it 

37 



with fresh vapor in summer. The air being dry it is ever ready to take 
up moisture, thus evaporation takes place readily from the human body, 
keeping it cool. The advantages of this Freedom from fresh water cannot 
be too strongl) expressed. The southern exposure that the city enjoys 
is another cause for the mildness of the climate. The ocean breezes from 
the southeast, south and southwest blow directl) from the gulf stream 
onto the beach, and the gulf stream is of itself one of the most potent 
factors in the climate. Its waters are a deep blue contrasting strongly 
with the green of the ocean, ami opposite Atlantic City this stream has 
a temperature all the year round of about 77 . and is nearly five hundred 
miles wide. Winds passing over it are tempered ami possess that peculiar 
balminess so well known here. 

Another point that must not be overlooked in the freedom of Atlantic 
City from fresh water influence, is the absence ^i malaria. The mixture 
or alternation of salt and fresh water is one oi the most potent factors in 
the production of malarial poison. If a large tract of meadows is for one- 
half of the twenty-four hours covered with salt water and the other half 
of the day covered with fresh water, malarial poison is sure to abound. 
This condition of things cannot obtain here. Besides this there is a 
preservative quality in salt water and salt air which prevents the growth 
iA germs; hence contagious diseases ,1,, not get a foothold here. The 
prevention of decomposition is manifest in our stable yards where manure 
may lav for months without becoming rotten. Lots in the city which 
were below grade were tilled several years ago with sand to a depth of 
one to three feet; upon digging down now to the old ground the grass 
that covered these lots is found discolored but still tough and not rotten. 




RESIDENCE OF THE FIRST MAYOR. 



38 



TLhc Ihwalib. 



■ - ,VF.T? V newcomer to Atlantic City, whether he be well or sick, is 
usually surprised by two sensations, one is a feeling of sleepiness 

| _ and the other is an increased appetite. Thousands of visitors for 
the first few days of their stay here seem to do nothing but eat 
and sleep. They will be found in the hotels, in the sun-parlors, along the 
boardwalk or on the drj sandy beach, with neglected book or paper, 
either sound asleep or drowsily drinking in the beauty around .hem. 
This is not the listlessness of a warm, depressing, sultry, southern climate, 
hut simply the result of perfect oxydation of tissue securing this very 
important factor in the recovery of the invalid. The increased appetite 
is due to the same cause, and with it comes the ability to digest more- 
food, especially animal fats and oils; still the invalid needs to be cautioned 
against excessive eating, for with an increased appetite, and a tempting 
menu before him he may be led into sinning, and as a result suffer the 
pangs of acute indigestion. 

What class of invalids will be benefited by a visit to Atlantic City is 
a question frequently asked, and one not very hard to answer, in a 
general way. Consumptives, as a class do well here. Not all cases of 
consumption should visit the seashore, hut there are cases that are vastly 
benefited by the sea air. and if not radically cured the disease is rendered 
so latent, and the system given such an impetus, that the disease will 
trouble the invalid no further, unless some special influence is exerted to 
reawaken it. Incipient cases are those that receive the most radical and 
lasting good. A patient with a family history or con- 
sumption may have an attack of pneumonia from which 
he does not convalesce nicely, there is but little cough, . 
hut he does not gain strength as he should. Pie tires 
easily, lias no energy, appetite is poor and his sleep is 
disturbed. Or without any previous sickness he com- 
plains of lassitude, decreased digestive powers, has 
some cough, a constant daily elevation of temperature, 
and. perhaps, beginning tuberculosis. To such a ca 
a residence in Atlantic City, more or less prolonged, 




39 



as the case may require, will prove very beneficial because these cases 
demand an out-door life such as can be found here. For hardlv is there 




RESIDENCE OF E. J. PETROFF. 



a day even during the winter, that the consumptive cannot spend at least 
a few hours in the open air without danger of taking cold. In cases 
further advanced the outlook is. of course, not nearly so hopeful, but even 




SUMMER HOUSE OF MR. GEORGE ALLEN. 



40 



these arc benefited. As a rule they suffer from hectic fever and profuse 
night sweats, both of which arc much modified or entirely disappear after 
being here a few days. Appetite and digestion are always improved, and 
that brings increased strength. There is still another condition in which 
the lungs become contracted and hardened, and the air cells become nunc 
01 less obliterated. In such condition this climate is of two fold benefit, 
for the invalid will receive more oxygen each time he fills his lungs, and 
the salts in the air have a direct effect upon the hardened tissues. 

The season of the year when consumptives should visit Atlantic City 
is particularly from the middle of September to the middle of Maw 
though some cases are benefited at any season of the year. Cases that 
should not come to Atlantic City are those that have had hemorrhage 
or that are liable to have hemorrhage, for this verv serious condition will 
most likely be increased by a visit to the seashore. 

Invalids that suffer from chronic bronchial, post nasal, or laryngeal 
catarrhs, with the attending annoying cough, which is aggravated every 
winter, do well here; in some cases the cough becomes entirely relieved. 
Asthmatics are another class of sufferers who bless the balmy breezes of 
Atlantic City. The "hay-fever" victim here finds immunity from his 
tormenter, and if he comes early enough and stays long enough, and 
repeats his visits for several years, the chances are that he may be cured 
of his trouble. 

Another great class of invalids are those suffering from chronic 
malarial poisoning. These are abundantly helped here. As is well known 
this poison may lay dormant for a long while in the system, but even in 
this dormant state it has an influence, and the victim docs not feel well. 
Such conditions may be radically changed, and after a residence for .1 few- 
weeks here the verdict is generally expressed thus "I feel better than 1 
have for a dozen or twenty years." 

The poor sufferer from rheumatism finds relief here, and he often 
finds more — a positive cure. Many of the permanent residents of Atlantic 
City are old rheumatics that are living here simply on account of their 
freedom from pain. 

Here, also, is the Mecca of the nervous invalid. lie may be the 
man of business, who, for years has devoted all his energy to piling up 
a fortune, without taking any rest; he may be a student or professional 
man. working his brain eighteen hours out of the twenty-four; or the 
woman of society, living in a brilliant exciting whirl month after month; 
these and a thousand others come to this ideal spot for rest and find it. 
Peaceful sleep, which may have been for months unknown takes the tired 
feeling from the brain, and awakens within the invalid a hope that he m;i\ 

41 



recover, and he improves. He sits entranced by the hour watching the 

rolling deep in its grandeur, anil as he inhales the stimulating" air his 
mind is soothed, worry is removed, and he forgets that he is sick. 

Many other conditions could be mentioned, but the little invalid must 
not be forgotten. During the heated term the beach is a grand baby 
-how. Here is the healthy, happy baby sent from the city to escape the 
heat and its attending dangers, and there is a poor little sufferer, far 
advanced in marasmus; and as a rule both are benefited. Between these 
two extremes are many children more or less delicate, with pale faces and 
thin bodies. They have had all the diseases that childhood is supposed 
to be heir to: or have grown too rapidly at a fearful cost to their animal 
economy. A few weeks in Atlantic City will change all this, and the 
little invalid will become a healthy, rosy-cheeked child. This is not a 
miracle, it is simply a natural result. 




— - 



Our Cit\> Mater Supply. 



WITH all the advantages of living on an island out in the sea. it 
may well he supposed that there would be some disadvant; 
The greatest of these as Atlantic City increased its thousands of 
inhabitants was an insufficient supply of potable water. 

For many years before the city knew the luxury and value of having 
two to five million gallons of pure spring water pumped daily within it> 
borders, the first inhabitants depended upon surface wells. The soil 
not then impregnated with the deleterious waste of a dense population 
and good water was obtainable along the ridge of wooded sandhills that 
formed the backbone or ridge of the island. In most places where well> 
were dug, salt or brackish water was found which was worthless for 
domestic purposes. 

Chalklev. John, Steelman Leeds and others were favored in having 
wells near their homes that furnished excellent water. 

But as hotels and cottages were built, travel increased, and the demand 
for water grew, brick cisterns were built beneath every roof to catch and 
harvest the proceeds of every storm and shower. Xo well can furnish so 
pure, soft and wholesome water as a clean, well ventilated cistern yields 
beneath ocean skies. Occasionally it happened in times of drought that 
the railroad company was appealed to and did 
bring large tanks of spring water from Absecon 
to be peddled about the city and sold to those 
whose cisterns were dry. So late as 1880. when 
there were 1.000 buildings and as many voters 
and five times as many inhabitants, a water 
famine was tided over by the water peddler in 
this way. 

City Council had caused to be built a 
number of brick wells at accessible street corner^ 
about the city for recourse in case of fire, and 
pumping stations on the meadows at South Caro- 
lina and Massachusetts Avenues provide' 
water for sprinkling the streets for several years. 



^^^^^^^^^^^■09 * At* s 



43 



So early as [856, Manassa McClees, owner and builder of Cottage 
Retreat or the Metropolitan, attempted to solve the water problem by 
sinking the first artesian well. With a nine-inch pipe he went down ninety 
to cue hundred feet, at a cost of $1,000, and striking salt water a: that 
depth, gave it up in disgust. Many of our large hotels now are supplied 
chieflj in this way. rinding a strata of pure and satisfactory water at a depth 
■ >f eisfht hundred feet. 





m m 



i i » w r wn M ia—||MM 



A. B. UPHAM'S COTTAGE. 



John W. Mollly, Walter Wood and other capitalists of Philadelphia 
took tlie first practical steps towards giving this wooden city proper fire 
protection and water supply. 

On October _• 1 . [880, ( ouncil passed an ordinance giving them and 
their associates the right to lay pipes and supply water for all domestic 
and public uses. 

\ supplemental ordinance was passed November 10. 1SS0. more par- 
ticularly reciting" the conditions of this contract and securing to the investors 
certain advantages which created prejudice and. caused controversy which 
lasted for years. 

44 



The Moffly-Wood Company prosecuted vigorously the building oi their 
plant, erecting a steel standpipe in this city, connecting at first with a 
twelve-inch main across the meadows six miles to the brick station where 
powerful pumps forced the purest and sweetest water obtainable, to a 
people that needed it badly enough, but objected to the contract for its 
ting. 

The ordinance of the MofRy-Wood Companj was repealed by Council 
on May 24, [882, alter several hundred thousand dollars bad been invested. 
but such action was ignored as illegal. It certainly was not effective. 



\ 



% 




-a^n-jxi 



Residence uf francis p. quigley. 

The streets had been thoroughly piped and one hundred and fifty 
fire plugs had been located and put in service for the water which was 
first turned on June 19, [882. The excellence and abundance of the water 
proved a great blessing to the town, restored confidence, promoted expan- 
sion, and greatly encouraged building improvements. 

But the tariff charged by the Wood Company was considered by some 
to be extortionate and the feeling against its promoters became intense. 
Council refused to pav and never did pay the stipulated $7,500 a year for 
the 150 fire-plugs and made special arrangements for sprinkling the streets, 
so that contractors for the work should buy of whom they pleased the water 
which they used. 

45 



A special election was held in [881, to vote on the question of the 
city building and owning a water plant of its own. ( >nlv half the total vote 
was polled, or aboul 600 ballots cast, but the result was five to one in 
iavi »r of the pi < »pi isition. 

Council passed an ordinance March 5, iSSS. giving the Consumers 
Water Company, a local organization, the righl to lay pipes and supph, 
the city with water. The incorporators were Henry J. White. Fred 
Hemsley, Daniel .Morris. George Allen. |ohn 1!. Champion, Dr. T. K. Reed. 
Mark Malalesta and Win. ( i. Bartlett. This company proposed to get its 




THE OLD GCEAM hOLSE. 



supply from artesian wells, hut as a precaution, secured an option on the 
pond at Port Republic. 

Seven wells in all were driven by the Consumers Company, two at 
Arctic and Michigan avenues on the Gas House property, which have since 
been disconnected, and five at the pumping station. Kentucky and Medi 
terranean Avenues. These wells were four, six and eight inches in diameter 
and at a depth of nearly eight hundred feet reach a water-bearing strata 
that has yielded satisfactor] results. 

For several years the water controversy and costly litigation continued. 
The two rival companies fixed a low tariff schedule and furnished in 
abundance an excellent article, creating careless and extravagant habits in 



46 



the list.- and waste of water which had to be checked years afterwards by 
a costly svstem of meters. 

Bui some of the stockholders were practical businessmen and noticed 
that as expenses increased dividends did not materialize. The demands of 
a growing city made further investment and improvements constantl) 
necessary. The result was that the two companies consolidated with a 
view nl the city taking both plants, which was finally consummated on 
August [. [895. 

\ special commission, consisting of ex-Governor George C. Ludlow, 
Washington < •. Robeling and — - Harrison, with Robert Herschel, an 
expert engineer, went over the records and appraised the plants at 
$771,782. This large sum is supposed to cover every dollar of the original 




RESIDENCE. OF DR. JAMES NORTH. 

investment with interest to date, with all the unpaid water rent due the 
Wood Company. 

At the time of the purchase engineers estimated that the plant could 
be duplicated for a trifle mure than half the amount for which city bond; 
were issued. Extensions and improvements since have increased the 
amount of water bonds issued to about $900,000. 

The property is more than self-sustaining on a low schedule of charges 
and is economically managed by a hoard of three commissioners, consist- 
ing at present of Messrs. L. Kuehnle, Dr. E. A. Reilly, and Rufus Booge. 

There are fifty-three miles of pipe in the city, four hundred and twenty- 
five fire-plugs, close to four thousand services in use and over three thous 
and meters. 

A7 



The full pumping capacity of the plant is over 13.000.000 gallons 
daily. A 20-inch and a 12-inch force main bring over the meadows the 
spring water from the mainland in quantities ranging from [,500,000 
to 5,000,000 gallons daily. The Consumers station is also operated for 
those who prefer that water, which is pumped in quantities ranging from 
250,000 to 700,000 gallons daily. 

The excellent quality of these waters is shown by the last report and 
analyses made by Prof. Wm. P. Mason. Prof, of Chemistry at the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Troy. \. V.: 

1st. Sample from 30-foot wells at the mainland pumping station in 
Absecon: 

Analytical results in parts per million: 

Free Ammonia .02 ? 

Ubuminoid Ammonia .0; 

( hlorine 9. 

Nitrogen as Nitrites Trace. 

Nitrogen as Nitrates .; 

"Required Oxygen" .4 

Total Solids 30.2 

Idle mineral solids of the above are composed as follows: 

Silica (Si O 7.75 

Oxides of Iron and Aluminum t Fe Al, S ) . 0.51 

Sodium Chloride (Na CI) 0.4 

Magnesium Chloride | Mg Clj) 4.03 

1 .ilcium Chloride 1 Ca CI 3.3 

Calcium Sulphate (Ca SO,) 5.03 

27.02 

"This is of excellent quality. You are fortunate in having so good 
a supply. The water is not of local origin, being quite distinct in character 
from those of your immediate neighborhood, and, although the wells 
supplying it are hut thirt) feet in depth, there are sundry reasons why it 
would he proper to classify it as a 'deep-seated water.' " 

Second >ample taken from the artesian wells at the Consumers Pump- 
ing Station. As there is no question as to the purity and potability of this 
water coming up 800 feet from the surface of the earth, no sanitary analysis 
was made, hut simply a determination of the minerals contained. 

48 



Analytical results in parts per million: 

Silica i Si O.) 35.5 

Oxides of Iron and Aluminum ( Fe, O. AL On) .. t.8 

Magnesium Sulphate (Mg S OO 8.4 

Calcium Phosphate (Ca, [PO,].) 2.0 

Calcium Carbonate (Ca C O,) -'3.0 

Sodium Sulphate (Na-, S O,) 39.7 

Sodium Chloride (Na CI ) 10.7 

Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO,) 23.] 

1 44.X 

"Regarding tins water, from the artesian wells, nothing' need be said 
beyond the statement that its quality is good." 

The following" is a statement of the expenditures and receipts for year 
ending August 1. [897. Water Department of Atlantic City. 

Item. Expenditures. Receipts. 

Management ami Repairs $14.6X0 52 

Pumping Expenses 1 5.39-' 55 

Interest 43,250 00 $539 66 

Construction, .Meters, Etc 210 39 

Sinking- Fund 22,580 00 

Water Rents rec'd Aug. 1, [896, to Aug. 1. 1X97. 66,499 '4 

Penalties 1 ' !< > o_> 

Bills of Series of Aug. 1, 1896, and Feb. 1. 1X97. 

unpaid -Vug. i, 1X97 645 5 1 

Meter Bills due Aug. 1, 1X97, for water used in 

previous six months 1 4,030 00 

Sundry Account 911 82 

Bills on Sundry Account unpaid Aug. 1, 1X97. . t>4 01 

Rebates 66 43 

Street Service Account 3.402 17 3-3^ h 60 

Street Service Account, Material on Hand Aug. 

1. 1897 .1'?^ 17 

Rent of Bargaintown Mill Property 150 00 

Amount received from Tax Duplicate as payment 

to Sinking Fund 1 2.100 00 

Expendedon Permanent Improvements to Plant. 

charged to Management and Repairs 840 85 

Totals $9'J-37i r, 7 $99,810 27 

4 49 




HOTEL ST. CHARLES. 
SO 



Gravity System of Sewetage. 



A] I ER more than a year of agitation and discussion, City Council, 
mi December i _\ [884, passed an ordinance granting the Improved 
Sewerage and Sewage Utilization Company of New York the right 
to lay pipes in the streets and alleys of Atlantic City, to take away 
the waste water from hotels, cottages, bath houses, etc. 

The very great importance of a feature of this character can only be 
imagined by those who were personally familiar with the situation and 

conditions in this growing city at that time. 
The disposal of slops and waste water of all 
kinds was attended \,\ great inconvenience. 
A supplemental ordinance was passed 
December 15. 1884, when the promoters of 
the "West patent" proceeded with the con- 
struction of the plant. 

Wintield Scott West was a civil en- 
gineer from Virginia, with headquarters in 
New York and Ins system consisted first of 
ail of a pumping station with a receiving 
well sufficiently large and dee]) to bring the 
sewage by gravity from all part- of the to 
through pipes laid in the streets. This well 
was centrally located at Baltic and North Carolina Avenues and was 
excavated 24 feet in diameter and jo feet deep by the use of sheet piling. 
This held the sides from caving in while powerful pumps removed the 
water till the timbers, brick and concrete of the bottom and >ides could 
be secured in position. 

The brick and stone engine house and pumping station was built 
over the well as over a cellar and the work of pumping water out of this 
cellar has been prosecuted without intermission for the past fifteen years. 
There is never any offensive odor in or about the well or station. The 
sewage i> all pumped far away before any decomposition can take place 
or any offensive gas be generated. 

The sewage enters the well 15 feet below the surface through a 20- 




PUMP1NG STATION. 



inch iron pipe which extends across the city and to which lateral mains 
are connected leading to either extremity of the town. 

These pipes are all laid at a grade of ~\ 2 feet to the mile, which 
covers most of the city. 

Recent compressed air devices have been attached t<> the pipes in 
Chelsea, the most distant point, so that the sewage there is lifted into" 
the pipes from receiving wells automatically and forced along the same 
as from nearer points. A suitable iron screen at the mouth of the pipe 
in the well prevents rags and all solid matter from getting into the pumps 
and pipes beyond. 

Two ioo horse power boilers and two centrifugal pumps with a daily 
capacity of 16 million gallons are at present ample for all requirements in 
keeping the well free. There is also a reserve 5 million gallon Hollv pump 
in the station. 

The daily pumpage varies from _' million to (> million gallons. 

A 16-inch iron pipe leads from this well and station two miles back 
on the meadows to the northerly side of the city, where the sewage is 
disposed of in a manner so highly satisfactory as to meet the approval 
of the highest health authorities and the best sanitary engineers. 

There are now about forty miles of sewer pipe laid in the streets of 
Atlantic City, and 4.475 properties connected therewith. While the city 
authorities under the present laws cannot compel people to connect with 
the pipes of a private corporation, the rates are so low and the service 
so efficient and satisfactory that more than two-thirds of all the buildings 
by actual count are connected with the service. 

The Atlantic City Sewerage Company, its name since the reorgani- 
zation in 1885, represents an investment of $400,000. It is paying interest 
on its bonds and dividends on its stock and is one of the most essential 
and important features of this resort. 




FIRST CITY HALL. 
52 



Jlfit ill- Mini. MMM.m.m.sH . 1 1, J8]i . llt , )ltt<l( 




I 











SOME COTTAGE HOMES. 



53 



©ur Cottage IDomes. 



AO >TTAGE by the sea has furnished a commanding theme for poets 
and story tellers in the years agone, but we doubt if any song or 
story has ever been inspired by such delightful surroundings as 
make the beautiful cottages of Atlantic City the ideal homes by 
the shore. 

t )f the six thousand and five hundred buildings on this island two- 
thirds of them are cottages and the illustrations on other pages give the 
stransfer an adequate idea of this striking feature of the town. 




_^H- — 



RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL H. KELLEV. 

These cottages that breathe forth in every delicate detail and elegant 
ornamentation the artistic -pint of the owner, become every season the 
temporary homes of a multitude of summer sojourners, who. while they 
may have no voice nor vote in the local government of the city, consider 
this wave-kissed island their home. 



cw 



One mav stroll for miles along the avenues and become bewildered 
1>\ the mam well kept lawns, the luxuriant shade trees, the inviting resi 




RESIDENCE OF FRED HEMSLEY. 



dences that harmonize delightfully with the tranquil feeling engendered by 
the dreamy cadence of the ocean swell that pulses soothingly through the 
bracing sea air. 




RESIDENCE OF GEORGE F. CURRIS 







II II 




RESIDENCE OF MAYOR JOS THOMPSON. 



RESIDENCE OF L. A. DOWN. 




-£&i - 




RESIDENCE O' JNC. L. YOUNG. 



56 



RESIDENCE OF JNO. B. CHAMPION. 




RESIDENCE OF CHAS. EVANS. 



RESIDENCE OF WM. F. WAHL. 





RESIDENCE OF GEO. W. CROSBY. M D. 



RESIDENCE OF B C. GODFREY. 



57 



Men of influence and position in the learned professions, in finance 
.nitl trade, escape the clattering noises of the great metropolises, come 
hero, anil amid our peaceful surroundings commune with nature and enjo) 
otiiim nun dignitatc. 

i )ur well graded streets, fringed with handsome homes, make an 
indelible impression upon the mind. The infinite variety in the styles of 
architecture adds to the general effect and relieves the drab uniformity 
that sometimes prevails. 

The material prosperity of Atlantic City very largely depends upon 
the renting of cottages, as probably half ol them in summer are not 
occupied by the owners. Some of them produce an income of $100 per 
month or $500 to $1,500 or $2,000 for a summer season. 

In July and August, when the sun kissed waves invite a plunge in 
Old Neptune's bosom, city folk take possession of main of these cottages, 
and children in gaj attire ma\ be seen disporting themselves at play on 
the green sward, afterward forming merry parties that wander to the 
neighboring beach, guarded bj attentive maids, and happy-hearted parents 
glad to bring an added lustre to the eyes of childhood by the unrestricted 
privilege of digging in the clean white sand. 

Of late years the fame oi Atlantic I it\ as a cottage home for fashion- 
ables has been growing 
and there is hardly a 
family of any prominence 
residing within a thous- 
and miles of this fax ored 
region that has not at 
one time or another oc- 
cupied, as host or guest, 
oneof thebeautiful homes 
which form the crowning 
glory <ii the town. 

Fair as she is. Atlan- 
tic City would lose the 
richest gerhs in her dia- 
dem were she divorced 
from the pretty little 
homes that make her the 
magnet for beauty-loving 
cottagers. 

RESIDENIE OF E. I. REEO. M.D. 




;S 



Htlanttc Ctt£ Ifootete. 



IN the amount of capital invested the- hotel interests of the United State- 
rank second only to those of the railroads, but in Atlantic City the 
combined hotel interests are by great odds in the lead. Perhaps in 

no other town on the Western Continent do the hotel interests so 
dominate as here. In the amount of money invested, the number of 
people employed and the volume of business transacted, this is preemi- 
nently a hotel town, with seldom, if ever, a failure. 

The business of entertaining strangers or "keeping boarders" on this 
island dates from the time in [839 when "Aunt Millie'" Leeds, the year 
after her patriarch husband died, enlarged her home, secured a license and 
for a dozen or fifteen years conducted the only tavern on the beach. In 
those days a few city folk sojourned at the seashore during the gunning 
and bathing seasons, years before railroads were in fashion or had been 
projected, even on paper, in this direction. 

When the railroad did come, fifteen years later, half a dozen larger 
houses than the old Leeds homestead 
came into existence, also the preten- 
tious United States Hotel, the -nil 
larger Surf House, the Mansion and 
< ongress Hall, which dispensed lavish 
hospitality to visiting thousands 
during the short seasons of those 
early years of the city's history. 

From that time to this, as the 
country has prospered and the multi- 
tude from great cities have made pil- 
grimage to ocean resorts, the hotel 
interests of Atlantic City have led the 
van, catering with unparalleled su< i ■ 
to popular demands, till not less than 
ten million dollars are now repre 
sented in the five hundred hotels and 
boarding houses which line the well united states hotel. 




59 



paved avenues and attractive beach front, which once were sandhills and 

the least desirable sections of the city. 

The proximity of many of our hotels to the ocean where wrecked 
vessels of other days with valuable cargoes were driven upon the rands, 
has robbed the stormy dee]) of some of its terrors and guaranteed to 
visiting thousands at all seasons all the benefits of an ocean voyage without 
going to sea, and secured all the luxuries of seawater bathing when winter 
winds are tossing the spray in full view of the guests' rooms. 

While Atlantic City may not have palatial hotels to compare with 
the Waldorf-Astoria, Xew York; the Ponce de Leon, St. Augustine; the 
Palace Hotel, San Francisco: the Great Northern or the Auditorium. 
Chicago; Brown's Palace, Denver; the Del Monte of Monterey or the 
Del Coronado, Santiago. Cal., the same may be said of Philadelphia. 

Nowhere else on the habitable globe is so much wealth in proportion 
to other lines of trade, represented in hotels and boarding houses as right 
here in Atlantic City. 

The story of this stupendous extension and expansion is the story 
of the last fifty years of the town. The illustrations on other pages 
indicate with what elegance and completeness our hotels are equipped for 
all seasons and all requirements for moderate or the most fastidious tastes. 
Our enterprising and progressive hotel proprietors exert a dominat- 
ing influence in the affairs of the city. In securing a suitable water supply 
and fire protection, paved streets and perfect sanitary conditions, street 
lighting, an attractive beach front and popular local administration of 
affairs, our hotel men have always been active and prominent. A con- 
siderable portion of the population are in their employ as mechanics, 
artisans or servants, or dependent upon them largely for trade or 
auxiliary service. 

Our hotel men spend thousands of dollars every year in giving Atlantic 
City favorable publicity in the leading publications of all the larger cities. 
They are first and foremost in welcoming State and 
National delegates to annual conventions and promot- 
ing the best interests of this resort. 

Atlantic City during the open seasons is a vibrat- 
ing heart of the world of fashion, culture, amusement 
and health. What a contrast do the hotels of the 
closing century present to those primitive stopping 
places of fifty years ago 1 

Now we have modern palace homes, including 
within their secure and hospitable walls, priceless 
schauffler's hotel. paintings, exquisite furnishings and luxurious coaches 




60 



in cozy sun parlors, where a day is a veritable dream of delight. The 
ocean in miniature, with all its valuable properties, is placed at the 
disposal of the guest, and thus in curiously wrought, seductive tubs of 
limpid sea water one may splash to his or her heart's content, absorbing 
energy and that peculiar buoyancy that lends such zest to every pleasure. 
Afterward, well wrapped up, a ride in a rolling chair is within the range 
of possibility and after one has been wheeled for a stretch along the Board- 
walk, dined at the celebrated tables for which our hotels are noted and 
afterward listened to a high-class concert, he or she is ready to smile a 
welcome to the sandman, knowing full well that nothing but beautiful 
dreams can follow in the wake of such a delightful day. 



HOTEL RATES AND CAPACITY. 



Hotel. ] 

Brighton $4 

St. Charles 3 

Windsor 3 

Rudolf 3 

Waldorf-Astoria 3 

Shelburne 3 

Chalfonte 3 

Dennis 3 

Haddon Hall 3 

Luray 3 

Iroquois 3 

Seaside 3 

Senate 3 

Islesworth 2 

Sandhurst 2 

Wiltshire 2 

Galen Hall 3 

Pennhurst 2 

Waverly 2 

Grand Atlantic 2 

Morton 2 

Irvington 2 

Glaslyn 2 

Holmhurst 2 

Berkeley 2 



Rates per 


Da 


V. 


Per 


Week. 


Capacity. 


OO 


to 


$5.00 


$18.00 


to 


$35.00 


500 


50 


to 


5.00 


20.00 


to 


35-Qo 


300 


SO 


to 


5.00 


18.OO 


to 


35 -OO 


2SO 


OO 


to 


5.00 


20.00 


to 


35-oo 


350 


OO 


to 


5.00 


20.00 


to 


30.00 


500 


.00 


to 


5.00 


20.00 


to 


35-oo 


300 


00 


to 


5.00 


iS.OO 


to 


35-QO 


200 


00 


to 


5.00 


iS.OO 


to 


35-oo 


500 


00 


to 


5.00 


18.OO 


to 


35-QO 


500 


00 


to 


5.00 


16.OO 


to 


25.00 


400 


.00 


to 


5.00 


15.OO 


to 


25.00 


4OO 


.00 






18.OO 


to 


20.00 


200 


.00 






15.OO 


to 


18.00 


250 


50 


to 


4.00 


20.00 


to 


25.00 


450 


■50 


to 


4 


OO 


I5.OO 


to 


25.00 


l6o 


•50 


to 


4 


OO 


I5.00 


to 


20.00 


3OO 


OO 


to 


3 


5° 


I2.00 


to 


25.00 


IOO 


50 


to 


3 


50 


18.OO 


to 


30.00 


200 


50 


to 


3 


50 


18.OO 


to 


20.00 


25O 


50 


to 


3 


So 


I5.00 


to 


20.00 


500 


OO 


to 


3 


5° 


I2.00 


to 


25.00 


200 


50 


to 


3 


OO 


I5.OO 


to 


20.00 


200 


5° 


to 


3 


OO 


I2.00 


to 


20.00 


125 


50 


to 


3 


OO 


I5.OO 


to 


18.00 


I50 


•50 


to 


3 


OO 


I4.OO 


to 


18.00 


3OO 



61 



Hotel. Kate."; per 

Kenilworth 2.50 to 

I >e Ville -'.5(1 tn 

Little Brighton 2.00 t< > 

1 .elande 2.00 to 

Strand 2.00 to 

Edison 2.00 to 

New England j.oo to 

Runn) mede 2.00 to 

Kuehnle 2.50 

Cedarcroft 2.00 to 

Revere 2.00 to 

Canfield 2.00 to 

Ponce de Leon 2.00 to 

Richmond 2.00 to 

Chester Inn 2.00 

La Belle Inn 1.50 to 

Norwood [.50 to 



Day. 


Per Week. 


Capacity. 


3.OO 


1 2.00 


to 


1 5.00 


^75 


3.OO 


10.00 


to 


[6.00 


300 


3.OO 


I2.00 


to 


1 S.oo 


200 


3.OO 


12.00 


to 


18.00 


150 


3.OO 


IO.OO 


to 


18.00 


250 


3.OO 


10.00 


to 


1 6.00 


150 


3.OO 


1 O.OO 


to 


10.00 


(75 


3.OO 


IO.OO 


to 


15.00 


200 
200 


2.50 


12.50 


to 


18.00 


200 


2.50 


12.00 


to 


15.00 


100 


2.5O 


IO.OO 


to 


15.00 


5° 


2.5O 


IO.OO 


to 


1 5.00 


I2 S 


2.50 


IO.OO 


to 


15.00 


200 




IO.OO 


to 


1 2.00 


1 50 


2.5O 


S.OO 


to 


1 5.00 


1-5 


2.00 


S.OO 


to 


12.00 


[25 




Easter at the Shore. 



A 



TLAXTIC CITY as a Winter Resort d; - hen 

the late F. W. Hemsley opened Brightoi all the 

year house. The Brighton then had fifty-threi d of 

two hundred as now. and speedily built up a profitable spring and 
winter trade. The late George F. Lee. the owner, encouraged thi 
by enlarging the house and providing up-to-date appointments, which 
were appreciated, and other hotels were not slow in catering to the same 
class of patron-. Physicians and railroad officials heartil; ith 

satisfactory results. 

The advantages of this city a.- a place of retirement for 

•.ring the Lenten season are now widely appreciated, fashion- 
ables from Xew York, Philadelphia and more distant center-* coming here 



X 



' 11 M«i. *J*» 



■ 

II II II H 
I H it » 







to find the restful changes and relief that come from the peculiar advantages 
and characteristics of this resort. 

Here it is that the fair women and brave men who grace the social 
circle at home, drink deep of the ocean air and diverting surroundings 
for which this seadashed island is noted. Thus in a few weeks is a reserve 
fund of energy gained that enables them to resume with fresh delight the 
routine of life and care in the great metropolises. 

During the forty days which usually include parts of March and April, 
the shore is a veritable paradise, everything being conducive to a sense 
of peace and tranquil enjoyment. The tedium of travel to distant 
southern resorts is avoided by a trip to Atlantic City and the benefits 




RESIDENCE OF A. M. JORDAN. 



of an ocean voyage secured without the risk and objections of being at 
sea. 

As the great religious festival of Easter approaches, the arrivals 
become more numerous and the scenes, like those in the illustration, more 
frequent and striking. When the sun shines forth on that glad Sabbath 
morning, sackcloth and ashes are cast aside and Queen Fashion, arrayed 
in all the bewitching beauty of her gracious loveliness, is revealed to the 
crowd that promenades the Boardwalk. 

Easter is the culmination of the spring season and the churches are 
usually largely attended, after which the procession along the Boardwalk 

64 



is at its height. Such an array of fascinating women in seasonably 
fashionable gowns and millinery are only seen in such bewildering pro- 
fusion on Easter morning. For weeks afterwards the social world talks 
with the enthusiasm of youth about the brilliant and varied scenes 
witnessed along Atlantic City's famous Boardwalk. 

The greatest Easter Sunday in the history of Atlantic City was on 
April 2, 1899. It was not an ideal one so far as the weather was concerned. 
The air was chilly and raw. The wind blew a gale at times and shortly 
after noon a snow squall passed over the city. But the weather condi- 
tions did not prevent the greater part of the estimated forty thousand 
visitors takinsr a stroll on the Boardwalk. 




RESIDENCE OF C. J. ADAMS. 



Between the hours of eleven A. M. and one P. M. the number of 
promenaders on the Boardwalk was the largest of the day. There were 
two steadv streams of people, one going up the walk and the other down, 
that reached from rail to rail. 

There was a marvelous display of Easter garments and headgear by 
both old and young. There was an abundance of smart frocks and 
perfect dreams of hats and bonnets. The women that came forth in their 
light spring tailor-made suits also had use for light furs and capes. Many 
bright and chipper Easter girls and many fashionably attired young men 

5 65 



scorned to wear over their natty suits a wrap or an overcoat. They 
preferred to carry thorn on their arms and make themselves believe it was 
a balmy day. 

Between the hours of four and five o'clock in the afternoon the Board- 
walk was for the second time filled with a double stream of strollers. 
Although nearly every roller chair was in use. there was very little inter- 
ference to pedestrians. Since the order of the police, making' the attendants 
wheel the chairs in single tile, there is more comfort to promenaders than 
when the chairs were allowed to he wheeled two or three abreast. 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. JACOBS 

The trains that arrived in this city on Saturday came in sections, the 
same as they did the two days previous. The Camden train on the Penn- 
sylvania that arrived Sunday morning about 10.30 came in three sections, 
two of ten cars and one of five, a total of twenty-five cars, of which rive 
were parlor cars, eighteen coaches and two baggage. The bridge train 
that followed the Market street train into the depot brought thirteen cars 
in two sections, six parlor cars, six coaches and one baggage. 

The 5.30 train from this city Sunday evening to Market street wharf 
was composed of twenty-four cars, in two sections of twelve cars each. 
As every seat was taken and railroad men estimate sixty persons to a car. 
more than fourteen hundred persons left on that train. 

66 



Both railroads report traffic ahead of all records for the week. The 
following figures of the last two years are of interest, showing a gratifying 
percentage of advance. 

ROYAL READING. 

1898 Jo99 

Thursday 56 cars. 88 cars. 

Friday So " 88 " 

Saturday 95 " 108 " 

Sunday 41 " 44 " 

Total 2J2 cars. 328 cars. 

WEST JERSEY AND SEASHORE. 

1898 1899 

Thursday 54 cars. 83 cars 

Friday '.3 " 87 " 

Saturday 71 " 103 

Sunday 35 " 60 " 

Total JJ3 cars. ^^7, cars. 

By this it appears that a total of 661 cars, or 39.660 people, were 
hrought down by both roads, those four days, as against 495 cars, or 
29,700 passengers for the same period of 1898. 

THE RUSH AT THE HOTELS. 

An idea of the Easter business mav he gained bj the record of Sundav 
dinners at leading hotels compared with that of a year ago. 

J 898 1899 

Grand Atlantic 694 J^2 

Haddon Hall 500 530 

.Hotel Dennis 528 

Islesworth 355 525 

Garden 300 500 

Rudolf 385 500 

St. Charles 450 435 

Hotel Brighton 475 

Hotel Traymore 250 400 

Hotel Berkeley 355 

Hotel Windsor 325 

Hotel Senate 225 270 

Chalfonte 240 

Hotel DeVille 24 1 

Seaside House 240 250 

Shelhurne 22' 1 251 > 

Pennhurst • . . 165 [68 

67 



Verily is Easter at the seashore a time when wealth, fashion and 
culture form the three graces that sway the hearts of the multitude. The 
surroundings here seem especially designed for a proper celebration of the 

day. The sublime majesty of the deep teaches a silent lesson of the 
omnipotence of the creator and the dependence of frail humanity. 

Atlantic City as an appropriate place in which to observe and magnify 
the day has been recognized for years and the hotels make it a point to 
cater particularly to the rush that comes just prior to the great festival. 
Easter week, as a rule, is devoted to private card parties and dances which 
are toned down to meet the requirements of the season. 

In the hotel world especially at this season our city is invested with 
a halo of romance that appeals to the sentimental natures of young people 
who admire the moon and see loved faces in the foam as they gaze at 
the surf and dream of the day when their happiness will be consummated. 
"You'll remember me" is the favorite melody at this time as the jingling 
cadence oi the music chimes harmoniously with the throbbing hearts of 
the city lovers. For it must be borne in mind that the Goddess of Love 
is the divinity that presides at the seashore and the matches that are 
made within sight of the sea while not as numerous as the sands on the 
beach, are of frequent occurrence. 

The post Lenten season marks a disappearance of those who have 
added a touch of color to the resort during the preceding forty days, but 
many weeks do not elapse before the Boardwalk is once more crowded with 
strangers in search of health and pleasure. 




RESIDENCE OF CAPT. SAMUEL S3MERS. 

68 



Cbe Boatbwalfe anb Ocean jpiers. 



THE ceaseless charms and wond< 1 ocean first induced visitors 

to come to this island and capitalists to build railroads here. 
to-day the main feature of the city is the four miles of elevated 
boardwalk for pedestrian- along the beach where ai! the 

glories of the sea — the glittering sunlight on the waters, the rolling breakers, 
the spray and tumult of the storm, and the tireless ebb and flow of the 
water along the shore — may be enjoyed by inland stK 
peculiar fascination and inspiration in the power and beauty and lif': 
the sea and hear music in its roar. 

Xo other promenade in the country is so unique and enjoyabl< 
Atlantic City's Boardwalk. It was first built in 1870, when the populati 
of the place was only about 2,000. The beach then was a wild public 
common, with scattering bath houses and tiresome areas of m 
marsh and soft sand. The first boardwalk - .000, which was a con- 

arable sum in those days, when no legal opinion was asked for and 
when public sentiment was strong enough to push the scheme successfully 
along. It was at first only eight feet wide, set on piling three fee: 
the sand. It extended from the lighthouse to the Seaview Excursion 
House at Missouri Avenue, and was in use onI_ nonths in summer. 

Fashion in those days did not disport herself along the beach in winter 
or at Eastertide as sh< 

Before winter came the walk was piled 
up in sections and secured t t storm 

tides from wrecking it and bearing the pieces 
and piling too far away. 

Larger and longer walks succeeded the 
first one as the town extended and the need 
was felt, till in 1891, at an ex; ; 000, 

a 24-foot wide walk was built from the Inlet 
to Chelsea to replace the old one which 
worn out. 

The rapid growth of the city made 
necessary a larger, mo- rue- 



I 




69 



ture. It was built high and strong on wooden piling. It was like 
the iild ones, all of wood. This investment proved a good one. All 
agreed that the attractiveness and popularity of the wider and stronger 



walk, with an unobstructed 




view oceanward, made it pay for itself in 
two years. At the end of five vears parts of 
the structure, for the safety of the crowds 
upon it, needed rebuilding. It was then de- 
cided by the city fathers to build a steel or 
iron structure, costing more and to last for 
many years. 

The piling and entire framework of this 
new promenade, from Rhode Island to Texas 
Avenue, are steel, floored with dressed heart 
pine from Georgia, laid on extra heavy 
joist. Galvanized iron railings extend along 
either side where needed as a safeguard. The 
piling are sunk ten feet or more in the sand 
by hydraulic process and are firm as the hills. 
Most of the way this new walk is forty feet 
wide and this proves quite too narrow for the 
crowds which throng it at Easter and in July 
and August. 

Excepting the two piers, only open 
pavilions are built along the ocean side, 
where seats are provided for their patrons 
and the public by the owners of the stores 
and bath houses on the opposite side. From 
any point along its entire four miles one has 
an unobstructed view of the ocean — of the 
ships and steamers passing a safe distance 
from the shoals, out where the water meets 
the sky. and of sailboats which, like ducks, 
float leisurely with pleasure parties in the 
distance or troll for the bluefish in season. 

The Boardwalk is brilliantly lighted at 
night the entire year by electric arc lamps. 
and during the summer months is incom- 
parably the most fascinating boulevard in the 
world. Many brilliant journalistic pens have 
made it famous in history, and many tongues 
have told the Story of its attractions. 



70 



Between the Boardwalk and the ocean view is the magnificent stretcli 
of surf bathing grounds, where from 10,000 to 20.000 men. women and 
children may be seen any day during the 
bathing season, disporting in the foaming 
breakers, creating a living picture which the 
most gifted artists have not equalled on can- 
vas, which talented pens have failed to fully 
describe and which no other watering place 
on the planet can approach. It is unri- 
valled, unequalled, and like Pleiades, "the 
loveliest of her train," Atlantic City is the 
gem of all ocean resorts in this respect. 

On the other side of the Boardwalk is a 
wonderful kaleidoscope of merry-go-rounds, 
an opera house, haunted forests, shell bazaars, 
bath houses, swimming pools, shooting gal- 
leries, bric-a-brac stores, mineral-water fount- 
ains, phonograph parlors, and a hundred o 
charming, exhilarating, harmless entertain- | 
ments into which the visitor enters with zest ? 
and upon which he spends his spare change " m 
with so much pleasure and benefit. § 

It is a typical American crowd, full of f, 
life, but never disorderly, full of the charming 3 
vivacity that seems to be an inheritance from ? 
the sea. Here may be seen a Senator or Car- s 
dinal, a millionaire, priest, merchant or pro- 
fessional man of eminence, happy among the 
more numerous members of the middle 
classes. Every civilized nation on earth is 
represented in the cosmopolitan procession. 

©cean flMcus. 

The first ocean pier to be projected in 
this city was the enterprise of the late Col. 
George Howard, of Washington. D. C, in 

1881. This structure, which stood only for 
one season, celebrated its opening July 12. 

1882. It extended 050 feet into the ocean, at 
the foot of Kentuckv Avenue, on what i-- now 




J' 



the Hotel Luray property. The science of sinking- piling in heavy beach 
sand was then in its infancy. The expeditious hydraulic process had not 
then been used here and the methods effective in softer soils were not 
satisfactory along the beach. A September storm destroved this pier, but 



did not discourage the builder. 



Col. Howard proceeded at once with a stronger one, 850 feet long. 
At considerable expense screw threads were cut by hand on the sharpened 
ends of heavy log piling, with the expectation of screwing them deep 
enough into the solid sand of the beach. This method proved ineffective. 




NET HAUL ON YOUNG'S PIER. 



as power sufficient to twist the logs to splinters would not penetrate the 
sand. This crude thread failed of its purpose. 

Steam power and the water process was then introduced and the 
financial possibilities of ocean piers tested for several seasons. 

The outer pavilion of the Howard pier was damaged by the Robert 
Morgan, a large new vessel in ballast which was driven ashore high on 
the beach just above Kentucky Avenue on the night of January 9, 18S4. 
This pier was never a great success financially and was removed by the 



commissioners who condemned property for the building of the new board- 
walk in 1891. It was assessed at $8,000. 

J. R. Applegate, in 1883, was next to embark in the pier business. 
He bought one hundred feet of beach front at the foot of Tennessee 
Avenue for $10,000, paying $3,500 for one fifty-foot lot and $6,500 for 
another next adjoining where his picture galleries were. It was a double 
decker, artistically finished, with an amusement pavilion at the outer end 
625 feet from the walk. 

This pier from the upper deck afforded a fine ocean view and was 
built to accommodate several thousand people. 

Tin's pier and real estate was sold in 1891 to Messrs. Young and 
McShea for $56,000 and has been extensively enlarged and improved since, 
till it now extends 2,000 feet into the ocean and for years has bee:: the 
great centre of attraction along the beach front. 

A large net, hauled twice daily in summer at the outer end, brings 
up a large and varied assortment of the animal life of the sea, which is 
of infinite interest to visitors. From this net specimens of fish of all 
sizes are secured for the large tanks on the pier, where living specimens 
may at all times be seen. 

In one large pavilion, 80 by 200 feet, hops, cakewalks, baby shows 
and entertainments are given and in another still larger auditorium meet- 
ings and conventions are provided for. 

A small trolley system carries visitors from the entrance out to the 
net, and a continuous program of popular attractions during the season 
afford diversion to thousands. 

As a resting place, where the ocean and bathing grounds may be 
viewed, the pier has become indispensable. Otherwise the congestion of 
travel on the Boardwalk might become decidedly unpleasant, where now 
the surroundings are of the most novel and enjoyable character. 




Che ©Ifr Iron pier. 

In [887 a company was organized in this city to build an iron pier as 
a popular beach-front attraction at the ocean end oi Massachusetts Avenue. 
Iron bridgework was used and a fine structure built, 1.000 feet into the 
s.ui .u a cost of $60,000. It was kept open several years, but was not a 
success financially and was sold at a forced sale, becoming finally the 
propert) oi Messrs. Young- iS: McShea, who purchased a square of land 
at the entrance. 

\ storm-tossed vessel wrecked a portion of the outer pavilion and 
.. severe Storm a few years later carried away several sections of the pier 
nearer the entrance. Damages were repaired and the old iron pier 1- still 
rented and used for business purposes. 



Ebe iRcw Steel ipuer. 

In 1S0S the Atlantic City Steel Tier Company was organized and 
incorporated and the handsome structure built 1050 feet into the ocean. 
at the foot oi Virginia Avenue. The capital stock of the company is 
> 

At the entrance from the Boardwalk a two story casino and music 
hall, glass inclosed and steam heated, seats I200 people and is a favorite 
simparlor and waiting place for social gatherings or visiting organizations. 

A large dancing pavilion or auditorium further along accommodates 
3,500 people at one time, and a still larger one at the extreme outer end 
is being erected to accommodate 4.500. 

As many as 1S.000 people have been admitted to the steel pier on 
a single occasion during its first season. It is a substantial, safe and select 
resort for visitors, conducted to please the best class of people. 

\ dividend of seven per cent, was declared on the stock at the end 
K^i the first season. 

George W. Jackson was one of the leading promotors and largest 
shareholder. The structure was built on lauds that were his. 

The officers and directors of the company are: President. Win. Jaj 
Turner. 929 Chestnut Street. Philadelphia; Vice President. Frank J. 
Patterson: Treasurer. George W. Jackson: Secretary and Superintendent, 
Thomas R. Dibble; Directors, the above and A. O. Dayton. Win. T. Tiers. 
L. \V. Passmore. D. F. Keenan, Fred lUtrk. Charles F. Grosholz, Robt. 
T. Hastings. 1-. E. Filbert. A. S. Elliott. Morris Pfaelzer and T. T. Sullivan. 



74 



©ur (public Schools. 
^- 

THE growth and development of the public school system form one 
of the many gratifying features of the history of Atlantic City. 
The six fine buildings, seventy odd teacher-, four thousand pupils 
and up-to-date methods which now comprise our public school-. 

started from very humble conditions forty years ago. 

So early as 1836 one Richard Risley, from the mainland, came to this 
island to instruct less than a dozen children of the Leeds families. Crude 
indeed and meager were the means and methods of instruction in the 
rudiments in those days by private tuition. 

Risley was succeeded by one Mortimer Goodrich, who had his private 
school in the Ryan Adams house, which stood exactly in the intersection 
of Arctic and Delaware Avenues. Tradition says that John Weaver 
followed Goodrich and there were probably others during the long 
winters that intervened before the incorporation of the city and the advent 
of the railroad in 1854. 

Anna .Maria Gaskill taught a private school in the dining room of 
the Chalkley Leeds residence in 1856, and later in the same year Edward 
S. Reed, assisted by his wife, opened a school near Baltic and Rhode Island 
Avenues, in a house which still stands next to the hirst M. E. Church on 
Atlantic Avenue. 

A Miss Thomas succeeded Mr. Reed, having her school in a basement 
room of the M. E. Church, which had just been erected. There were 
then some thirty or forty school children on the island. 

The late Arthur Westcott. who for many years was City Assessor, 
taught a private school in a small building erected for that purpose by 
Richard Hackett on South Carolina Avenue above Arctic. 

A Miss Slade had a school in Mt. Vernon Cottage, next to St. 
Nicholas R. C. Church, on Atlantic Avenue, and a Miss Price had a school 
for a time in the Chester County House at New York and Pacific Avenues. 

The first public school was opened about 1858. in the old Ocean 
House, at Maryland and Arctic Avenues, where Beyer's Hotel now stands. 
It was first taught by Mr. Chas. G. Varney. The following year the School 
Trustees were able to provide the tir-t public school house, a small frame 

75 



building, on an ample lot at Arctic and Pennsylvania Avenues. Mr. 
Varney was succeeded by Alexander L. Bellis. a graduate of the State 
Normal School, whose system of discipline proved an innovation. During 
his two years' stay Bellis was assisted by his sister, Miss Sarah, Miss Fannie 
Smith, Miss Debora Cordery and Miss Lena Scull. 

About [863, the little three-room school house became so crowded 
that the trustees awarded a contract to Richard Souders for building a 
two-story, four-room structure, as a more imposing front to the original 
building. There was difficulty in providing" funds, and the contractor was 
unable to proceed. Mr. Robert T. Evard, at pecuniary sacrifice to himself, 
completed the job and provided much-needed school facilities. For many 
years afterward Mr. Evard served as school trustee. His sturdy sense, 
rugged honesty and firmness enabled him to select good teachers and tell 
when a school was well taught. 

Mr. Bellis was succeeded as principal by Mr. J. A. Abrams, Then 
came Mr. Leonard and Mr. Robert L. Guerney. 

In the fall of 1863, Mr. Silas R. Morse, of Livermore, Maine, who had 
been teaching successfully two or three years at Hammonton and Winslow, 
accepted the position of principal and continued in charge of the schools 
for nine years. Mrs. Morse, then a blushing bride, came with him and for 
seven years was one of his most efficient assistants. Hundreds of our best 
known citizens have pleasant memories of old school days under Mr. and 
Mrs. Morse. 

Other assistant teachers under Mr. Morse were Miss Elliott. Miss 
Nellie Hayes. Caroline Bigelow. of Livermore, Maine: Miss Elizabeth Allen, 
of Hoboken; Miss Ina Ross, of Burlington; Miss Anna Weatherby, Miss 
Mary Elliot. Miss Samaria Eldredge. 

In the fall of 1872 Mr. Morse resigned and Mr. Charles G. Kingman 
was elected, who two years later was succeeded by John H. Batten, and 
he by A. R. Dickerson. who remained one year only. 

In September. 1877. the schools opened with John F. Hall, another 
Maine man, as principal. He had taught several years in his native State 
and one year at Weymouth, in Atlantic Count}'. The trustees at that 
time were Joseph A. Barstow. Robert T. Evard and Andrew \Y. Tompkins. 
Hall continued two years, resigning in 1879. having embarked in journalism. 
The assistant teachers during the two years of his administration were 
Misses Adah M. Seely, Eliza U. Xorth. Mary Lara. Helen C. Seely. Sarah 
Hagan, Eva Madden. Xellie Thompson, Carrie E. Adams. Annie M. Adams, 
and Mrs. Johnson. 

Osmond C. Evans, from Maine, succeeded Hall, and taught two years. 
He was succeeded in the fall of 1881 as principal by Clarence E. Morse, 

/6 



also from Maine, who had been in charge of the school at Mays Landing 
several years and was assistant principal in the Indiana Avenue school in 
the previous year. 

About this time a separate school for colored children was opened in 
rooms now occupied by the U. S. Fire Company. It continued success- 
fully several years, till political influences prevailed against separate colored 
schools. 

Prof. William A. Deremer took charge of the schools of this city in 
the fall of 1891. and continued in office as Supervising Principal until 
( >ctober, 1893, when the silent reaper "death" claimed him as his own. He 
was a self educated man from Cumberland, Md., and had taught very suc- 
cessfully at Vineland, X. J., several years. He was an indefatigable worker, 
with tact and orginality that made him popular with his associates. He 
introduced manual training and a system of moral training which comes 
from having teachers and pupils investigate and relieve cases of warn and 
suffering among the worthy poor of the city. 

During his term of office four schoolrooms were added to each of 
the following buildings, viz.: Xew Jersey Avenue, Indiana Avenue and 
Texas Avenue. The teaching force was increased from thirty-five to forty- 
seven teachers. Manual training was added to the course and L. E. 
Ackerman, a graduate of the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, was elected to be 
in charge of this department in the spring of 1893. 

In October, 1893, Chas. B. Boyer, then principal of the High School, 
was elected to rill the vacancy caused by the death of Prof. Deremer. 
Henry P. Miller, a native of Sharpsburg, Maryland, was at the same time 
elected to the principalship of the High School. 

Since 1893 the teaching force has been increased from forty-seven to 
sixty-seven regular grade teachers and five special teachers. The total 
enrollment June 30. 1894. was 2.31 1, while that of June 30. 1898, was 3.391, 
an increase of 1,080 schoolable children in four years' time. 

The following table concisely gives the dates of the construction, the 
capacity and present value of the several school properties in Atlantic 

City: 

School?. Rooms. Built. Value. 

High School 10 1896 845,000 

Pennsylvania Avenue 16 1887 40,000 

Indiana Avenue 12 1879 30,000 

Xew Jersey Avenue 12 1883 35,000 

Texas Avenue 12 1883 25,000 

Chelsea 6 1 897 30,000 

Total 68 S205.000 

78 



In the fall of 1898. the manual training course was extended, in order 
that all pupils of the grammar grades should receive the benefits from 
such a course of training. At the present time there are five manual 
training rooms located as follows, one at Xew Jersey Avenue, one at Penn- 
sylvania Avenue, one at Chelsea, and two at the High School Building. 

A regular commercial course was introduced in the fall of 1898, and 
F. J. Klock, a graduate of the Rochester Business University, Rochester. 
X. Y., was elected to take charge of this department. 

Vocal music, as a regular class study, was introduced into the schools 
in January, 1891. The department was placed in charge of Miss Josephine 
Fletcher, who continued as supervisor of the same until the spring of 
1893. The present supervisor, Miss Rispah Potter, took charge of the 
department in the fall of 1893. The results obtained thus far have been 
very gratifying. 

The present Board of [Education consists of C. J. Adams, President; 
Carlton Godfrey, Vice-President; Aaron Hinkle, Secretary: S. R. Morse. 
Dr. A. D. Cuskaden, W. A. Bell, Paul Wootton, and Dr. W. M. Pollard, 
City Superintendent. 

All expenditures are wisely made, and of the $80,566.28 appropriated 
by City Council for educational purposes during the past year, $67,267.12 
was spent in behalf of the schools of this city. The best interests of the 
schools have at all times been considered and the Board has acted wisely 
and judiciously with all questions pertaining to the welfare of the boys 
and girls. The work in all departments is in the hands of faithful teachers. 

While Atlantic City may boast of her magnificent Boardwalk, her 
modern hotels, salubrious climate and world renowned popularity, she 
may also feel proud of her public school system and the influences emanating 
from the same. 

High School graduates who have entered higher institutions of learn- 
ing have been successful in their various lines of work. The future of the 
schools of this city is bright. 

The demands for the support of the schools have always been met with 
a willing response from the generous public. 

With the expansion of our city and the constant increase in popula- 
tion, it will be necessary to provide in the near future more school buildings 
for the better accommodation of the children. 



79 




So 



Some of the Xcabtno (Tbutcbes. 



fnet fID. i£. Churcb. 

THE First Methodist Episcopal Church in this city, on Atlantic above 
Connecticut Avenue, was built in 1857. The cornerstone was laid 
in July of that year. The lot. 60 x 150. was given to the church 
by Chalkley S. Leeds, who then owned many acres in that part 
of the island. 

The first religious services were held in a house then standing in the 
"old field." Local exhorters conducted services at first, till an organization 
was effected. Rev. Edward H. Durrell is said to have preached the first 
regular sermon. 

A Sunday School was organized in Cottage Retreat before rooms in the 
new church building were ready for use. During its construction William 
Conover was killed by the falling of the tower from the roof, one of the 
girders breaking. V. 

Since first occupied the church has twice been enlarged and improved. 
It is free from debt and valued at $12,500. There is a comfortable par- 
sonage at No. 30 North Delaware Avenue, valued at 84,500. 

The membership of the church now numbers nearly three hundred 
persons, and the Sunday School nearly four hundred. The annual receipts 
and expenses exceed S3.000. 

The twenty ministers who have officiated at this church since Mr. 
Durrell preached his first sermon are the following: 



1. W. B. CULLIS, 

2. J. T. TUCKER, 

:;. R. .1. ANDREWS, 
t. Mil. I. AIM) FOGG, 
:». W. S. BARNART, 

6. U. M. STRATTON, 

7. A. M. NORTH, 

-. a. .1. gregory, 
9. .1. f. heilenman, 
111. j. t. hutchinson, 



11. JAMES \l< DUGALL, 

12. W. S. /AXE. 

13. \\. T. ABBOTT, 

14. -I. I.. ROE, 

15. PHILIP 1 LINE, 
in. J. II. BOSWELL, 
17. .1. U. DILKS, 

1- .1. II. l'AVKAX. 

19. HENRY BELTING, 

20. GEORGE S. MESEROLL. 



81 



The present official board comprises the following persons: 



JOSEPH C. ( LARK, 
JOHN J. MASON, 
( i. \i;i:\( K I.. COLE, 
JOHN A. CLEMENT. 
MRS. MARY REPP, 
i\ ii. now en, 
HARRY PARSONS, 
MRS. LEWIS EVANS, 
LEWIS BARRETT, 
LUTHER EDMUNDS, 
ELWOOD JOHNSON, 



JOHN W. PARSONS, 
MRS. K. s. REED, 
ELLIOT RE] 'I'. 
MRS. MARY WOOTTON, 
THOMAS RILEY, 
THOMAS MAT1IIS, 
\VM. G. LORE. 
MRS. \V. <;. LORE, 
JOB (i. MONROE, 
s. P. DUBOIS. 
VLBERT DOUGHERTY, 
URIAH RILEY. 



first |prest)\>terlan Cburcb. 

The first Presbyterian services ever held in this city were conducted 
in the house of the first Mayor, Chalkley S. Leeds, on January 21, 
[855. Missionaries of the Presbytery conducted services for some 
years in private houses during the winter months and in hotel 
parlors during the summer. So early as 1855 the Camden and Atlantic 
Land Company very generously gave to trustees the present site of the 
First Presbyterian Church. It was swamp)- ground at that time, a small 
part of a tract that cost the land company Si 7.50 per acre. It cost con- 
siderable to grade the property, but sand Hills were not far away. At that 
time there was no building of any kind on Pennsylvania Avenue, except 
the Mansion House. 

The corner stone of the first edifice was laid August 21, 1856, on which 
occasion addresses were made by Rev. John Chambers. D.D.. John Ley- 
burn. D.D., and Samuel Beach Jones. D.D. Rev. William H. Green. 
LL.D., of Princeton Seminary, also was present. 

The first public services were held in the building July 26. 1857, with 
only temporary seats and unplastered walls. In the same month of July. 
1S57. the corner stone of the First M. F. Church was laid. 

In [858 the Presbyterian property was seized by the sheriff for out- 
standing debt and was extricated with considerable difficulty. Stock was 
issued in $50 shares, bearing six per cent, interest, to run five years. AH 
were finally redeemed. For years the church was only occupied in summer, 
and preachers were secured by giving them free entertainment at the United 
States Hotel for their services. The building was too large and cold for 
w inter use. 



82 



The church was dedicated June -'3, 1859, when Dr. Charles YVads- 
vvprth preached from Luke y.j. 

On December 29, 1870. a regular church organization was effected by 
the following seven charter members: Mr. and .Mrs. Lemuel Eldridge, 
Henry, son of Rev. \Y ,\V. McNair, Mrs. Henry McNair, Miss Mary Scull. 
Mrs. Rachel Scull Turner and Mrs. Rebecca R. Townsend. Mrs. Turner 
is the only one of them living to-day. 

Rev. Allen H. Brown. Rev. Dr. V. D. Reed and Rev. S. VV. Pratt were 
the committee of the Presbytery on organization. Zealous missionaries in 
the early days of the church were Rev. Allen H. Brown and Rev. F. R. 
Brace, who are still among the living. 

For years the church was dormant, till with increasing population it 
became self-sustaining. 

Rev. W. W. McNair was the first stated supply. He continued about 
two years after the organization, when various ministers tilled the pulpit 
irregularly. 

Rev. A .G. Baker officiated about two years, till 1878. when Rev. H. 
Martin Kellogg became the stated supply till February, [880. 

The building was enlarged to its present size in 1876. at a cost of 
$3,500. The chapel was erected in 1S78 at a cost of $2,400 and was 
dedicated January 14, [879. It has since been twice enlarged and is an 
indispensable auxiliary of the church. 

In March. 1S80, Rev. Edward Bryan, a classmate of Mr. Kellosre. 
came and officiated acceptably till October, [882. Various supplies and 
candidates filled the pulpit till the fall of 1883, when Rev. Dr. William 
Aikman was installed as the first regular pastor. He officiated ten years, 
till April 17, 1894. On November 21, 1894, Rev. F. J. Mundy, D.D.. was 
elected pastor and served till March 31. 1896. He was never installed as 
pastor, but withdrew with seventy-four members April 2j. 1896, and organ- 
ized the ( )livet Presbyterian Church of Atlantic City. 

January 20. 1897. Rev. Frederick Jonte Stanley. D.D., was elected 
pastor. He began his labors February 1. 1897, and was installed pastor 
by the Presbytery April 26, 1897, becoming the second regular pastor in 
the twenty-nine years' history of the church. 

The church property is clear of debt and is valued at $30,000. It has 
an active membership of 253 persons. The scholars, teachers and officers 
of the Sunday School number 314. 

The annual receipts and disbursements by the last report amounted to 
$7,685.93, an increase of $1,606.66 over the previous vear. 

In November. 1898, this church started two mission chapels under the 
personal direction of Rev. H. R. Rundall, one in Chelsea and one in the 
northern section of the city. 

83 



first Baptist dhurcb. 

The history of the First Baptist Church is a story of consecrated effort 
ami abundant success. In February, [880, a few earnest Baptists met one 
evening in the home of Airs. Jane B. Shane. 225 Atlantic Avenue, and after 
•• good deal of discussion concluded that they would at least make an effort 
to organize a Sunday School, and hold regular services on Sundays and 
a prayer meeting during the week. The thought of organizing as a church 
had not at that time been expressed. 

The Sunday School was organized in the Pennsylvania Avenue School 
House, where it met for a few months. The school building not answering 
tor preaching purposes, the hall at the corner of Atlantic and Chalfonte 
Avenues, known then as Mehler's Hall, was rented. Here, for a few weeks. 
gathered the faithful founders of the church. They were not alone in their 
meetings, for many visitors to our city found them out and met with them. 

Thus encouraged, the subject of organizing a church was talked of. 
Some of the Philadelphia visitors advised it. and a meeting was called for 
the 29th day of June. 1SS0. At this meeting were present the following 
clergymen: Revs.R. F. Young, of Haddonfield, who was really the father 
u\ the church; L. P. Hornberger, George Cooper, C. C. Foote, VV. B. 
Toian, and J. G. Walker, of Philadelphia; T. L. Bailey, of Pottstown. Pa.; 
and A. 11. Puns;-, of Camden. Rev. Mr. Young presided, and Rev. Mr. 
\\ alker acted as clerk. 

At this meeting the church was organized with the following members: 
J. 11. Leedom, Mrs. Harriet Leedom, Edward Ross. Mrs. Emma Ross, 
Mrs. Maggie A. Peterson, Miss Mary A. McClees, Mrs. Adeline S. Pee. 
Mrs. Maggie Shinnen, Dr. A. \Y. Baily, Mrs. Jane Black (Shane), Mrs. 
May A. Borhek, Mrs. Laura A. Bewley, Jacob P. Peterson. Rev. T. P. 
Baily, Mrs. Caroline A. Baily, Miss Susan P. Baily, Mary A. Simes. Mrs. 
Esther A. Moore and Mrs. Margaretha Camerer. 

At this meeting Jacob IP Leedom was elected Deacon and Treasurer. 
and Dr. A. \Y. Baily, Llerk. During the summer of 1SS0 the church 
worshipped in the Presbyterian Chapel, returning to the hall in the fall. 
The) were without a pastor, depending upon supplies front Sabbath to 
Sabbath, and also without a church home, hut an active building committee 
at work. 

In the summer of [881 the Presbyterian Chapel was again secured. 
1 Hiring the summer of [88] Mrs. Isaac Ford presented to the church the 
lot on which the building now stands, and on the 8th of September ground 
was broken for the foundation. On the 29th of the same month the 
cornerstone was laid, and during the fall the work of erection was pushed 

84 




85 



along slowly, for the church went upon the plan of "paying as thev went." 
One of the noted events in this history occurred October 31st of this 
same year. That day Rev. Sidney Dyer, of Woodbury, was elected the 
first pastor, and from that date to January 1. 1SS5, he served most faith- 
fully. Under him the building was completed and paid for. In the June 
following Ins election the building had been pushed forward to the point 
when it could he occupied. It was little more than a barn, though, for 
there was no plaster on the walls ami nothing- but muslin in the windows. 
But if ever there was a happy congregation it was the one that worshipped 
for the first time in that incompleted building. 

Dr. Dyer was compelled to resign on account of ill health. Under his 
pastorate the membership increased to fifty-five. 

After three months the church called Rev. William E. Boyle to the 
pastorate. March 4. 1885. He remained pastor until the close of 1890. 
Under his care the membership was increased, but no special work was 
accomplished, except organizing the Young People's Society of Christian 
Endeavor, the first society formed in the city. 

The present pastor, Rev. T. J. Cross, began supplying the church in 
1891. He was then a student. In June of that year he became regular 
supply for four months, at the expiration of which time he was elected 
pastor. Under his care the church has had its most successful period. 
The congregation > grew till the building became too small and it was 
enlarged. There is no debt upon the church, and at the present time it 
is united and harmonious, and has alwavs been so. 

Bethany Baptist Chapel, a flourishing' mission, at present located on 
Atlantic near Florida Avenue, is the healthy child of this church. 



St. Paul ni\ E. Cburcb. 

The St. Paul M. E. Church was organized from the small begnning 
known as the Union Sunday School in October. 1879. by Rev. E. C. Hill, 
presiding elder of the Bridgtou district, who appointed John M. Hartley 
as pastor. 

The following were members of the quarterly conference: J. H. Hart- 
ley, pastor: Thomas Sovereign, superintendent; Ehvood M. Hadley, local 
preacher; Solomon Mason, exhorter; Obadiah Reed. James Ireland. John 
Brown, William Eldredge and John A. Jeffries. 

The services were held in Union Chapel, corner of Baltic and Michigan 
Avenues. Mr. Hartlex served as pastor until March. 1881. when Rev. Z. 
T. Dugan was appointed by the Bishop presiding over the Xew Jersey 

86 



Conference of that year. The Union Chapel soon became too small for 
the growing congregation under Mr. Dugan's pastorate, and it was decided 
to build a new church. Accordingly, a lot was purchased at < >hi<> and 
Arctic Avenues, and the church erected. The basement story only was 
completed under the pastorate of Mr. Dugan, who served the church faith- 
fully for three years. 

In the spring of 1884 Rev. George S. Meseroll was appointed pastor. 
During the three years of .Mr. Meseroll's pastorate the audience room was 
completed and the membership increased largely. 

In the spring of [887 C. K. Fleming was appointed as pastor. He 
served the church faithfully and with great success for three years, when 
Rev. S. S. Weatherby was sent to succeed him. During his three years 
the parsonage adjoining the old church was built. To Mr. Weatherby is 
due the credit of suggesting and frequently urging a new church on Pacific 
Avenue. 

Rev. J. Ward Gamble followed Mr. Weatherby and remained two years 
in the pastorate. He did much to create a sentiment and zeal in favor of 
a new church. At the close of his second year the Central Church of this 
city was organized, when about twenty of the St. Paul members left and 
joined that. 

In the spring of 1895 Rev. George L. Dobbins was appointed. After 
nearly four years of united and hard toil of pastor and congregation they 
were able to occupy their new stone edifice, which represents an invest- 
ment of $45,000. 

It is Gothic architecture. The frontage on Pacific Avenue is sixty-five 
feet and the Ohio Avenue portion one hundred and twenty feet. The 
building is of Holmesbnrg granite with trimming's of Indiana stone. The 
main entrances are on Pacific Avenue, two in number, and both are reached 
by a high flight of stone steps, over which a hood is placed, which adds 
tc the appearance of the structure. It was designed by Architect J. Gather 
Newsome, and was dedicated Sunday, November 20, 1898. 

The New Jersey Conference held its annual session in this handsome 
edifice in March, 1899. Rev. J. Morgan Reed succeeded Mr. Dobbins as 
pastor at this conference. 



Episcopal Gburcb of tbc ascension. 

A movement to establish all the year round religious ministrations 
gained headway among the Episcopalians of Atlantic City during the later 
Seventies and resulted in the purchase of a lot at 2015 Pacific Avenue. 

87 



The late Mrs. E. G. Taylor was chiefly instrumental in the erection of a 
frame chapel, which was formally opened by Bishop Scarborough, August 
10. [879. Rev. J. Rice Taylor, the first rector, began regular services in 
June. 1880, which have been maintained without intermission ever since. 
Under his direction, the parish was duly incorporated January 3, 1881, 
entering legally and canonical]}' into possession of the church property. 

Rev. Win. H. Avery succeeded to the Rectorship in February, 1882, 
and continued in charge for some years. 

In 1886, the vestry, seeking a more central and convenient location, 
bought ground at Pacific and Kentucky Avenues, and with the advice and 
consent of the canonical authorities removed the frame chapel thither, 
adding an annex for Sunday School purposes. 

Rev. J. H. Townsend became rector December 1. 1891. and laid the 
corner stone of the present edifice April 27, 1893, which was completed by 
the liberal offerings of resident and transient worshippers and opened for 
use May 13, 1894. 

This structure was designed by Mr. Lindley Johnson, is in the Spanish 
Renaissance style, and is a good example of a commodious, yet inexpensive 
hard material building, well adapted to the varying needs of this population 
and climate. 

1M 



Olivet lprcsbptcrian Cburcb. 

( hi April 27, 1896. seventy-four members of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Atlantic City withdrew from that church, and at their request 
the Presbytery of West Jersey organized the Olivet Presbyterian Church, 
of Atlantic City, and installed Rev. F. J. Mundy, D.D., pastor. At the 
same time three persons united with the church by letter from other 
churches. At that time they had neither a Bible or a Hymn-book, nor 
an abiding place. Soon thereafter Odd Fellows' Hall was engaged in 
which to hold services, and the lecture room of the German Presbvterian 
Church, in which to hold prayer meetings. In the summer of 1897 services 
were held iii the Academy of Music on the Boardwalk. 

On November 6, 1896. the lot at the southeast corner of Pacific and 
Tennessee Avenues was purchased and the following September members 
and friends assembled and broke ground for the foundation of a new church 
home. Contributions and assistance were liberally made for the handsome 
stone structure which, on Sunday March 2j. and April 3. 1898, was duly 
dedicated. 

Following are the names of the charter members of Olivet Presbyterian 
Church: 

88 



MARY II. PORTER, 
HANNAH C. PORTER, 
ELIZABETH II. PORTER, 
SALLIE 1). FARTHING, 
LIZZIE BOSTLE, 
S. MARIE JOHNSON, 
SARAH A. JOHNSON, 
LILA It. WOODRUFF, 
JESSIE MAUDE BENDER, 
MALVINA TOWNSEND, 
JESSE I.. TOWNSEND, 
EVA V. ARMSTRONG, 
HATTIE II. ARMSTRONG, 
GEORGE P. EINWECHTER, 
MRS. GEO. P. EINWECHTER, 
GEO. EINWECHTER, .li:.. 
ARTHUB KNAUER, 
JOS. L. KNAUER, 
HELEN C. FAIRBAIRN, 
JOSEPH R. WOODRUFF, 
JULIA C. KEFFER, 
MRS C. li. WHITNEY, 
i . B. WHITNEY, 
MARTHA B. FAIRBAIRN, 
JAMES C. FAIRBAIRN, 
HENRY I.. FAIRBAIRN, 
NELLIE M. LIPPINCOTT, 
C. K. LIPPINCOTT, 
MARTHA L1ITI \i OT I . 
HELEN II. LONG, 

HOWARD 



MARY LOGAN REILEY, 
PHILIP (,. SMALLWOOD, 
LULU S. SMALLWOOD. 
LILLIAN R. MILLER, 
HARRIET A. DONNELLY, 
ELIZA A. MESSICK, 
IDA E. KNAUER, 
JENNIE s. MALONEY, 
NINA E. SHANER, 
SALLIE .1. FREEMAN, 
JEMIMA M< INTYRE, 
JAMES McINTYRE, 
SARAH N. WEIDEMER, 
HENRIETTA EILER, 
BENJIE E. BOWM \\. 
VALERIA MARSH, 
C. R. RAITH, I). I). S., 
CORA s. I; \| til 
LOTTIE C. WOODRUFF, 
Mrs. F. .1. Ml XI IV. 
JOSEPH S. STINSON, 
WILLIAM N. MILLER, 
EMMA E. BOW1I VN, 
MARTHA M. MARSH. 
ESTELLE M. Lll>l\.*< (ITT. 
SALLIE J. RAITH, 
E. A. RKILEY. M. I).. 
MIRTIE R. NORRIS, 
MARIAN MUNDY, 
MRS. MARY A. WILLITS, 
STOUT. 




FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE 

8g 



(Serman lpicslnncnan Cburcb. 

The German Presbyterian Church, at Pacific and Ocean Avenues, was 
built in [884. The congregation then numbering forty or fifty, had been 
organized two years before. Rev. Arnold \\ . Fismer, now pastor of the 
Hopkins Street Church in Brooklyn, X. Y.. was the first pastor. The lot, 

60 1>\ [20 Feet, was purchased For 84.000 and the church built for S3 .000 
before he left in November, 1885. The corner stone was laid February 28, 
1SS4. After him came Rev. P. 11. Schnatz, who labored acceptably four 
years, till 1890, the membership steadily increasing. Rev. 11. Hortsch was 
pastor for a short time after Mr. Schnatz was called to the Martha Memorial 
Church of Xew York City. 

On the fourth Sunday of advent, 1891, Rev. A. K. Staiger came to 
be in charge of the little church, where he was installed as pastor June. 
iSoj. and has served faithfully up to the present writing. During the 
pastorate of Mr. Schnatz. a portion of the lot was sold for S500 and the 
mortgage reduced to $1,500. This has been paid oft since Mr. Staiger 
came, the church enlarged, a parsonage added at a cost for all of So. 000. 
There is at present a debt of $3,500 against the property which is worth 
St 5.000. The membership of the church has grown to 100 and the Sunday 
School to 110 pupils and u teachers. There is a very active Ladies Aid 
Society, under the leadership of Mrs. Matilda Stadler, and an excellent choir 
of young voices, under the direction of Robert Kirscht. 

The present officers are: President of the Hoard of Elders. Ferd 
Stadler; Secretary. Emil Werner: August Steuber, Jacob Scherer, Charles 
Speidel and Henry Obergfell. 



St. "Nicholas Cburcb. 

In 1856 Rev. Father Michael Gallagher, ( >. S. A., built St. Nicholas 
R. C. Church on ground given by the late Col. Daniel Morris to the Order 

of St. Augustine. Religious services on this island at that time had but 
few scattering people to attend them. But the zeal of the few provided 
for the many and the little Gothic chapel of St. Nicholas of Tolentine was 
the ottering to Cod of his poor people. A view of it appears on another 
page. It stood on Atlantic Avenue below Tennessee. The Rev. John 
Joseph Fedigan was the first settled pastor of St. Nicholas Church, coming 
here from Villanova College in August, 1SS0. to benefit his health ami for 
the benefit of his people. Both were happily accomplished: till not less 
than fifty thousand dollars were invested in the large and convenient 
church and residence at Pacific and Tennessee Avenues. Father Fedigan 
endeared himself to his people and continued his labors here till July. 

[898, when his brothers called him to preside over the province of St. 

Thomas, with residence at Bryn Mawr. Pa. 

00 



(Bieat Hbvance in IRcal Estate 



THE increase in the values of real estate in this city has been mar- 
velous. Fifty feet lots fronting on Atlantic Avenue which sold 
thirty years ago for $500 each are now sold and held for $500, 
$800 and more per front foot. This is on land which in the early 
Fifties was purchased by the Camden and Atlantic Land Company for 
$17.50 per acre. Land along the beach which was considered almost value- 
less in 1878 is now valued at $1,000 per foot fronting on the Boardwalk. 

When John L. Young, in 1885. purchased the old Victoria rink, at the 
foot of South Carolina avenue, he paid $6,000 for the rink property; $4,500 
for three lots adjoining and $10,000 for several lots in front to low water. 
He sold one fifty-foot lot on South Carolina Avenue for $12,000. which 
left $8,500 as the net cost of all the rest. Seven years later this property, 
containing the rink and merry-go-round was sold to the Somers Casino 
Company for $150,000 and in 1898 was bought hack by Air. Young and his 
associates for $200,000. The lot is 150 feet front by 400 feet deep. 

The old Chester County House property on New York Avenue was 
bought by Mr. Young for $65,000 in 1891 or 1892. He sold off the hotel 
section to Westminster Avenue for $33,000 and disposed of other lots at 
$100 per front foot till he got all his money back, leaving him 90 feet of 
beach front clear, worth $1,000 per front foot. 

Another lucky purchase was in front of the Hotel Luray at the ocean 
end of Kentucky Avenue. This lot fronting 150 feet on the Boardwalk and 
extending hack 200 feet, cost Mr. Young in 1893 875.000. John Hagan, 
three years before, had offered to sell it for $6,000. After holding it three 
years Mr. Young sold it to Mr. White of the Luray for $115,000. and it 
is worth $175,000 any day. 

Another fortunate speculation was at the foot of Maryland Avenue. 
This block. 175 feet front by 300 feet deep was purchased in 1892 by Mr. 
Young for $25,000. He soon sold a part of it to James Bew for $10,000; 
another lot was sold to the Rutter Bros, for $16,000: a third lot to Llotel 
Islesworth for $12,000. and a fourth lot for $4,000: total. S42.000. leaving 
the corner lot. J^ feet front by 300 deep, worth $75,000. which Mr. Young 
still holds. 

91 



About 1894 Mr. Young, with four others, purchased at public sale 
a full square of land near the ocean end of Atlantic Avenue for $650. Two 
years later the land was sold for $21,000 and in October, 1898, it was sold 
again for $63,000, which is much less than its selling price to-day. 





CHALFONTE AND HADDON HALL. FROM 
THE BEACH IN 1874. 



UNITED STATES HOTEL AND LIGHTHOUSE 
THE BEACH ABOUT 1874 



1 





VIEW FROM LIGHTHOUSE 1870. 



VIEWS OF LONG AGO. 

92 



VIEW FROM LIGHTHOUSE. 1870. 



George \V. Jackson purchased property fronting on the Boardwalk for 
$4,500. He paid John F. Starr $20,000 for lands in front to the water's 
edge. About fifteen years later Mr. Jackson sold the whole to the Steel 
Pier Company for $150,000. 

The old Opera House lot on Atlantic Avenue near Tennessee. 50 by 
175 feet deep, was purchased in 1880 by Barclay Lippincott for $4,000. 
It was puchased to enlarge the City Hall site adjoining in 1897 for $-'5,000. 
The Mensing lot, in the same square, 40 by 1 10 feet deep, was sold in [867 
for $1,100. In March, 1874. the Kuehnle Hotel property was purchased 
of William Conover, 110 feet on Atlantic Avenue, for $0,200. 

The lot on which Hotel Shelburne now stands on the westerly side 
of Michigan Avenue, 150 feet deep and including everything from a point 




MANSION HOUSE 1876. 

450 feet from Pacific Avenue to highwater mark, was purchased !>v Elisha 
Roberts in 1874 of the Camden and Atlantic Land Company for $1,500. 
The hotel has been moved nearer the ocean and many thousand dollars 
worth of cottage lots sold from the original tract. The Shelburne property 
is probably worth $200,000. 

The Chalfonte property, which was sold in [898 for $225,000, was 
purchased by George T. DaCosta in 1868 for $6,500. It then bounded 
27934 feet on Pacific Avenue and extended 310 feet more or less to high 
tide line. It now begins some 1,500 or 2,000 feet from Pacific Avenue, 
thousands of dollars worth of cottage lots having been sold off during the 
past twenty years and the hotel moved nearly 2,000 feet nearer the ocean. 



93 



Da Costa paid only $3,000 for this property in [856, buying it of the land 
company. The purchase included the St. James Church property and the 
lot where Dr. Pennington's cottage now stands, all together now worth 
half a million dollars. 

A few years ago Mr. Joseph 11. Borton of Hotel Dennis refused 
S^oo.ooo for that property. It is probably valued at $500,000 to-day. It 
has been known to clear over $50,000 in one year. When Mr. Borton 
purchased the property April 11. [867, he paid William and Susan B. 
1 >ennis Si 2,500 for it. The I )ennis cottage then stood near Pacific Avenue, 
and the ocean was not very far away. 

The lot consisted of three 50-foot lots, making 150 feet on Pacific 
Avenue, and extending to "low-water mark." The first lot on the corner 
Dennis bought June 4, [863, of Joseph C. Bye for $800. The next lot of 
H. D. Gummer cost $150 in [862, and the third of Charles W. Bacon 
December 1. [862, cost Dennis S304. 

After holding- this property four or five years Dennis sold for $12,500, 
the three lots which cost him $1,314, not including a 40-room hoarding- 
house which he had built and which is shown in an illustration. 

The next 50-foot lot on Pacific Avenue or the ocean end of it. 
beginning 300 feet from Pacific Avenue. Mr. Borton purchased of the 
Charles X. 1'iersoll heirs December 11, [886, for $3,500. This lot from 
Pacific Avenue cost Piersoll $850 in 1K72. 

Mr. Borton has sold cottage lots on Pacific Avenue for more than 
the amount of his original purchase. He has enlarged his hotel several 
times and moved it perhaps 1,000 feet nearer the ocean, on land which old 
ocean has so lavishly thrown up at his door during the past 30 years. 
Fortunate, indeed, were they who purchased land to low-wafer mark 30 
years ago. 

In 1886 Lewis A. Haines, of this city, bought sixty feet of beach 
front on the easterly side of ( >cean Avenue for $5, 000. It extended back 
from the Boardwalk over 100 feet and the leach was constantly making- 
out and new boardwalks were moved out accordingly. 
In October, 1897. after eleven years, Mr. Haines re- 
served a sixty-foot lot in the rear and sold to Victor 
ITeisinger the remainder of the 330 feet on Ocean 
Avenue, which he then had. for $72,000. The prop- 
erty has since been sold for Suo.ooo. or $1,500 per front 
foot for hotel purposes. 

Every square foot of space in the city has shared 
in this great advance in value, that along the 1 each 
dennis cottage. front being especially remarkable. 







>4 



Zhc Htlantic Cft^ Ifoomocopatbic Club. 



OX the evening of May 17. 1897, in response to an invitation sent 
to all the homoeopathic physicians of Atlantic County, there met 
at the office of Dr. M. I). Youngman. the following physicians: 
Drs. Bull, Bieling, Balliet, Baily. Crosby, Corson, Fleming, Red- 
man and Sooy, of Atlantic City; and Gardiner, of Absecon; and after 
discussion, unanimously determined to hand themselves into a club for the 




JOHN R. FLEMING, M.D. 

PRESIDENT OF THE ATLANTIC CITY HOMOEOPATHIC MEClCAL CLUB 



95 



advancement of Homoeopathy and the mutual advantage of each member. 

A constitution was adopted, name selected, and the following officers 
elected to serve until the annual meeting in January: President. John R. 
Fleming; Secretary. John L. Redman; Treasurer, L. D. Balliet. 

The cluli holds its meetings monthly, except during the months of 




A. W. BAILY M,D. 



July and August, at the houses of the various members, at which meetings 
papers are read and discussed, cases are reported, and prevailing diseases 
and their treatment brought to the notice of the members. 

Since the organization of the club Drs. Mary Miller. Lydia H. Crom- 
well and Alfred W. Westney have been elected to membership, and Drs. 



96 





97 





s 



98 




s I 




99 





:oo 





IOI 



Redman, Bull and Biding have lost their membership, having remove. 1 from 
the city. Dr. Gardiner has changed his location from Ahsecon to Atlantic 
City. 

At the annual meeting of January, 1898. Dr. Fleming was re-elected 
President, and Dr. Balliet was re-elected Treasurer, Dr. Corson berhg 
elected Secretary. In 1899, at the animal meeting, all the old officers were 
re-elected, and Dr. Cromwell elected Assistant Secretarv. 

In April, 1897. just one month after the organization of the club, Drs. 
Baily, Bull, Fleming, Crosby, Munson and Youngman were appointed a 
committee to attend the meeting of the American Institute of Homoeopathy 
at Buffalo in June and invite that body to meet in Atlantic City in 1898. 
The committee did their work, secured a club room at the Genesee Hotel, 
which they decorated, and had the pleasure of seeing man)- of the Institute 
members in their room. But the Institute pleaded a previous engagement 
and went to Omaha. To the Omaha meeting the club sent another invi- 
tation, which was unanimously accepted; and in June, 1899, the club has 
the pleasure of entertaining the Institute in Atlantic City. 

The club now numbers twelve members, and has at its monthlv 
meetings an average attendance of ten. Of the members, Drs. Fleming, 
Baily, Balliet, Munson, Sooy, Corson, Gardiner and Westney are graduates 
of Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia; Drs. Crosby and Young- 
man of the Xew York Homoeopathic Medical College; Dr. Cromwell of 
Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago; and Dr. Miller of New York 
Medical College and Hospital for Women. 




THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE, 1862 TO 1887. 



IOJ 



TLhxec 'Rational Banks, 



T 



IMS city is we'll provided with financial institutions. It has three 
National banks, one safe deposit and trust company and half a 



dozen building and loan associations. 



The First National Bank was organized March 18. 1881, after 
several months of persistent canvassing on the part of Robert D. Kent, who 
became the first cashier. 

The first Board of Directors were: Joseph A. Carstow. John P>. 
Champion, George F. Currie, Charles Evans, Richard H. Turner and 
Elisha Roberts. The officers were: Charles Evans. 1 'resident, and Robert 
D. Kent, Cashier. The bank was first opened for business on May 23. 
1SS1, occupying temporarily a room in the Currie Building, near the corner 
of South Carolina Avenue. 

Later the bank moved into the Bartlett Bank Building, which was 
erected especially for the purpose. 

Xo dividends were declared the first year but semi-annual three per 
cent, dividends were paid thereafter, till now the surplus is three times the 
invested capital of $50,000, and semi-annual dividends of nine per cent, are 
paid. 

The following are the present officers and directors: Charles Evans, 
President: Joseph H. Borton, Vice-President : George Allen. George W. 
Crosby, Dr. T. K. Reed. J. Haines Lippincott, John B. Champion. Elisha 
Roberts, Fred Hemsley, Francis P. Quigley, Cashier. 

The Second National Bank was organized December 18. 1886, with a 
capital stock of Stoo.oco. and began business January 24. 1887. in its own 
brick and stone building at the corner of New York Avenue. 

It has steadily prospered, paying dividends and accumulating a surplus 
■ if S50.000. 

The officers and directors are: George F. Currie. President; Levi C. 
Albertson. Vice-President; Joseph Thompson, [. G. Adams, E. B. Scull, 
James H. Mason, Lewis Evans, Louis Kuehnle. Samuel K. Marshall, 
Warren Somers, Absalom Cordery. and E. V. Corson and L. A. Down, 
Cashier. 

In the same building and under the same direction is the Atlantic 
Safe Deposit and Trust Company with a capital of $100,000. 

103 




104 



Interest is paid on deposits and all the usual powers and privileges 
of such institutions are exercised by this one. 

The officers are: George F. Currie, President; Louis Kuehnle, Vice 
President; Lorenzo A. Down, Secretary and Treasurer; and Joseph Thomp- 
son, Solicitor. 

The Union National Bank was organized in August, [890, and opened 
for business October 1 ith of the same year with a capital stock of $100,000. 
It also occupies its own handsome brick building at the corner of Kentucky 
Avenue. 

The Union Bank has progressed steadily, having acquired a surplus 
of $40,000. 

The officers and directors are: Hon. Allen B. Endicott, President; 
Smith Conover, Vice President; C. J. Adams. James D. Southwick, Alfred 
W. Baily, James Flaherty, Thomas J. Dickerson, Lewis P. Scott, Lucien 
O. Corson, George W. Jackson, Thompson Irvin, G. Jason Waters and 
James M. Aikman, Cashier. 




NEW STORE AND FLATS OF GEORGE ALLEN. 



I05 








.ISr:iiH|fci,**.tth 




G4LEN HALL. 
1 06 



Cost of Cit£ Government. 



A 



X ordinance to provide for the amount of tax to be levied in Atlantic 
City in the year (898, to make appropriations and limit the 
expenditures of Atlantic City for the fiscal year beginning the first 
Monday in September, [898, and ending the first Monday in 



September, 1899. 



Section 1. Be it ordained in the City 
Council <>l' Atlantic City, Thai Eor the 
fiscal year beginning the first Monday in 
September, 1898, and ending the firs! 
Monday in September, 1899, the follow- 
ing amounts are hereby appropriated 
and ordered raised for the respective 
purposes herein stated, and from any 
funds in the Treasury, to be used for the 
respective purposes: 

County Tax $46,398 7.". 

State School Tax 36,16] 28 

City School Tax 35,300 00 

Special District School Ta\... 9,105 00 

Sinking Fund 25, 100 

Water Department 105,940 00 

Floating- Debt 2,5 10 

City Notes 25,000 in; 

Interest on Bonds 10,576 97 

Interest on Notes 5,000 00 

Lighting 28, I 00 

Streets 17,900 00 

Police Department 29,500 00 

Fire Department 20,000 00 

Detective Service 1,000 00 

Protection and Improvement 

of Property 11,200 00 

Printing and Stationery 2,500 00 

Salaries 18,650 00 

Legal Expenses 3,0 10 

Poor Fund 4,000 00 

Sanitary 14. nun 00 

Board of Health 3,00 1 

Atlantic City Hospital 4. (inn 00 

Election Expenses 1,000 00 



Memorial Expenses $ 100 U0 

Annul) Renl 100 00 

United States Fire Co 2 250 00 

Atlantic Fire Co 2,500 00 

Xcpt line Hose Co 2,250 08 

Good Will Hook and Ladder 

Co 2,250 uti 

Beach Pirates Chemical Engine 

Co sun un 

Chelsea Fire Co 1,750 00 

Rescue Hook and Ladder Co.. . 300 on 

Deferred Hills 20,303 00 

Building Streets and Sidewalks 1m 

Revising, Compiling and Print- 
ing Charter and Ordinances. 2,000 un 
Flower Heds 100 on 



Total $4!i4.4::r. 00 

Sec. 2. And lie it further ordained. 
That the moneys appropriated by the 
first section of this ordinance shall be 
derived from the following sources: 

Tax Duplicates, 1898 $::14.4:::> on 

Licenses 93,000 00 

Fines ami Costs 1,400 00 

Building Permits - 10 

Sale of Street dirt - 1,200 nd 

Registration of Dogs 500 00 

Srndry Services 1,543 59 

Cash on hand to credit of 
Water Department, Septem- 
ber 5th, L898 41,843 :i 

Unpaid Water Hills, series of 

August 1st. is'.is 9,320 un 



I07 



Receipts of Water Depart- 
ment, series of February 1st, 
1899 $7,000 00 

Sundry account, Water De- 
partment 1,000 nn 

Streel Service Account, Water 

Department 3,500 00 

Cash on hand to credit of Gen- 
eral Fund, September 5th, 
L898 18,892 70 

$494,435 00 



Sic-. ::. And be it ordained, That this 
ordinance shall take effecl immediately. 
Passed at a regnlar meeting of City 
i ouncil, September lL'th. 1898. 

JAMES 1). SOUTHWICK, 

President. 
Attest: 

E. D. LRELAN, 

City Clerk. 
Approved September 16, 1S98. 

JOSEPH THOMPSON, 
Mayor of Atlantic City. 




BACHARACH BUILDING. 



108 



Beautiful longport 



S a Family Resort, since 1898 incorporated as a New Jersey borough, 

comprising one or two square miles of the southerly end of the island 

on whose northerly end Atlantic City is conspicuous. It is nearly 
ten miles between the extreme points or thirty minutes by trolley 
cars which nearly span the entire distance. 

Longport is a lovely family resort with two large boarding houses, 
the Aberdeen and Devonshire; a dozen or twenty beautiful cottages; a 
large club house; a Government life saving station and some other buildings. 

Old ocean pounds ceaselessly upon a charming expanse of shallow 
beach along the easterly border, while close up to the sandhills or high 
ground on the westerly side come the waters of the long port or large 
expanse of sheltered bays and navigable thoroughfares. 

From the railroad terminus or pavilion sail and steamboats ply to 
Ocean City and Somers Point, on the mainland, several miles distant. 

Not till August 31, iSy4. did the first railroad train enter Longport 
where now convenient trolley cars make frequent trips. 

M. Simpson McCullough the first and present Mayor, in 1882, pur- 
chased of James Long the large tract of land on which Longport is built. 
The first cottages were built the following year by congenial spirits who 
appreciated the ideal surroundings and knew that developments must 
speedily follow the plans and enterprise of Mr. McCullough to make 
Longport a very desirable, reasonably restricted family resort. 

Building lots have met with a ready sale to a very desirable class of 
purchasers and the character of the improvements are of the most attrac- 
tive kind. Mr. A. H. Philips, the well known real estate agent, is one 
of the most progressive pioneers of this young borough. 

Longport is well lighted and has an ample supply of pure artesian 
water. 

Every summer season the capacity of the place is tested to the utmost 
for several weeks at a time. The building of the substantial stone drive or 
speedway direct from Atlantic City, which is now in progress, will make 
Longport a favorite point for driving and cycling. This new road will 
he brilliantly lighted at night and be one of the most novel and charming 
drives in the country, close along the ocean's edge and in the near din 
of its roar. 

109 




no 



<3olf at the County Club. 



THE Country Club, composed of prominent citizens lias provided 
handsomely for the lovers of golf, who visit this resort. 
On a beautiful rise of ground on the mainland six miles 
away a model club house has been built and eighteen-link grounds 
laid out that are much enjoyed by golfers. 

All conveniences are provided and the soil is of such a character that 
wet seasons hardly interfere with this health-giving game. The grounds 
are easily accessible by rail, bicycle or carriage over good roads and are 
greatly appreciated. 

From the perfectly appointed club house, a fine example of colonial 
architecture, one may look over miles of cultivated fields that slope to 
vast and picturesque areas of bay and meadow land, and beyond all ocean- 
ward. .Atlantic City. Ventnor, South Atlantic and Longport, with the 
prominent buildings rising and vibrating as in a mirage along the horizon 
line. 

Golf (in its older forms golf, gouff, gowff. the latter of which gives 
the genuine old pronunciation), is an amusement formerly so peculiar to 
Scotland, that it was well ami truly termed the national game of that 
country. 

Not many years ago. however, the game was taken up in England, 
where it at once became immensely popular; finally it was 1 in night over 
to America, and to-day throughout this country, and in England a- well, 
it is the most popular, a- well as one of the most healthful of all open air 
games, and the fact that it brings all the muscles of the human body 
into healthy action commends it to all and makes it a really desirable game. 
though there are those who look upon it unjustly as a senseless pastime. 







■A 










THE SEASIDE HOUSE. 



112 



ftcigftbormg brigantine* 



BRIGANTINE BEACH has been known since the earliest times 
chiefly in giving a name to the famous Brigantine shoals or 
shallows on the coast where many a vessel has struck bottom 
and become a total wreck. 
In these later days this shoal beach has become famed for its excellent 
surf bathing, its fishing grounds and as a rendezvous for sportsmen and 
others who here find the retirement, solitude, relaxation and that peace 
which passeth all understanding. 




BELL BUOY. 



The resident population of Brigantine enables this coast village to be 
incorporated as one of Xew Jersey's smallest cities, containing two wards, a 
Mayor and City Council. Three hotels and fifteen or twenty cottage homes 
for city sojourners, several miles of graded streets, frequent trolley cars, 
connecting with steamboats across the bay, have during the past few years 
converted bleak and lonely sandhills into a very promising young sister 



"3 



of the Queen of ocean resorts, Atlantic City. Brigantine possesses advan- 
tages which are regarded as blessings to those in quest of a quiet, 
luxuriant retreat, far from the madding crowd. It lias all the advantages 
of a great city and inland town together with the features that make Atlantic 
City famous without any of the disadvantages of these places. 

There is a restful, slumbrous air brooding over Brigantine that creates 
insensibly a feeling of subdued pleasure that makes life one long holiday 
while the view of the ocean and the consciousness that each respiration 
of health-invigorating ozone, contributes to the general feeling of elasticity. 

Brigantine is exclusive unto itself. Its limits have been carefully 
maintained and those who look upon it as a paradise in which to escape 
the annoyances of the heated, bustling cities are numbered among the 
prominent of the nation. 

lion. M. S. Quay, who is credited with being a judge of what is 
pleasing, visits Brigantine frequently and there finds solace for the haras- 
sing cares of state by catching drumlish. and Congressman llarmer, of 
Philadelphia, also has a lovely cottage there. 

Artesian wells furnish water as pure as the air in which ( )ld Glory 
floats above the highest building, while electric lights of many horse 
power make night as brilliant as the brightest day. 

Graveled streets that invite driving and cycling have been built through 
and across the island. 

Brigantine has recently awakened from long time conservatism and 
inspired by well-directed enterprise is taking on new life and is making 
commendable progress. 

Its nearness to Atlantic City, its moderate cost of living, its elegant 
hotel accommodations make its natural features especially delightful to 
thousands of people. 




OLD RYAN ADAMS HOUSE. 



14 



COn 13nij nnCi (Ocenn. 



ft 



r no point along the New Jersey coast can so many yachts and 

sailing craft be found as here. While the shifting sands and bars 
at the Inlet channel make this harbor inaccessible to large vessels, 
many private pleasure yachts come here during the summer and 
the Inlet wharves present a scene of unusual animation at all times. 

Since 1883 a Yachtsmens' Association has maintained an organization 
and a large active membership. Stringent rules are enforced to maintain 
suitable wharves and permit 011I3 experienced, capable seamen to engage 
in the business. 

A fleet of one hundred or more pleasure yachts, some of them large 
and handsomely furnished, handle thousands of people daily in summer 
time at very reasonable rates. 

As many more smaller craft are owned by cottagers and citizens. 

Fishing in the bays or on the ocean is one of the exhilarating pastimes 
of visitors. 

Cabin yachts are available during winter months in which those who 
wish may spend a week or more at a time, gunning about the bays. 





-it* •>*!**- 



11: 




HOTEL TRAYMORE. 



116 



Atlantic CUij (Officials. 

1899-1900 



Mayor— J( )SEPH THOMPSON. 

Recorder— JOHN S. WESTCOTT. 

Alderman— JAMES D. SOUTHWICK. 

Treasurer— JOHN A. JEFFRIES. 

City Clerk— EMERY I). I R ELAN. 

Tax Collector— WILLIAM LOWRY, Jr. 

Solicitor— C.\ RLTON GODFREY. 

City Comptroller— A. M. HESTON. 

Chief of Police— HARRY C. ELDRIDGE. 

Overseer of Poor— DA XI EL L. ALBERTSOX. 

Mercantile Appraiser— J. \\". PARSOXS. 

Supervisor of Streets— S. B. ROSE. 

Building Inspector— S. L. WESTCOAT. 

Electrician— C. WESLEY BRUBAKER. 

City Marshal— CORNELIUS S. FORT. 

Assessors— STEWART II. SHIXN. SERAPH F. LILLIG, AX- 
DREW J. WTTHROW. 



MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. 

President— JAMES D. SOUTHWICK. 

BAETON, SAMUEL, [RELAND, WM. A., 

BARRETT, DAVID R., KELLEY, SAMUEL II., 

BEYER, ALBERT, KNAUER, DANIEL, 

CLKMKXT. .lusKI'll ( '., LEE, EDWARDS., 

DOUGHTY, S. L., LEEDS, HENRY \\\. 

FLEMING, JOHN R., LINGERMAN, JOS. E., 

GARNICH, HUGO, LONG, GEORGE IT., 

HANN, ENOS P., PARKER, EDWIN A. 

117 



The assets of the city government amount to a total of. . . . $1,674,144 
Including: 

Water Plant $887,000 

City Hall Property 75,000 

Steel Boardwalk 1 57, 1 55 

Sinking Fund 7 l -777 

Tax Duplicate of 1898 314,435 

Personal and Other Property li ^-777 

The total liabilities of the city aggregate ■. . $1,207,831 

Consisting of: 

City Ponds $9,831 

Improvement Bonds 187,000 

Paving Bonds 100,000 

City Hall Bonds 24,000 

Water Bonds 887,000 

The story of Atlantic City's wonderful growth and prosperity is told 
in the following figures: 



Voters 

1854 (First Election) .... 18 

i*57 77 

[860 119 

[865 126 

1870 173 

i875 458 

1880 962 

1SX5 1.071, 

1890 2.S40 

[895 3,600 

1899 ( Estimated) 5,680 



Population 


Assessed Valuation 


IOO 




4OO 




687 




746 




I -043 




2,009 


880.02 5 


5-477 


1.707,760 


7-94-' 


2/i02,3I2 


13,037 


4.415.896 


18,329 


12,172,646 


25.000 


i5.OOO.OOO 




118 



The assets of the city government amount to a total of. . . . 
Including: 

Water Plant $887,000 



$1,674,144 



City Hall Property 

Steel Boardwalk 

Sinking Fund 

Tax Duplicate of 1898 

Personal and Other Property 



75.000 

■5/.155 

71-777 

314435 



The total liabilities of the city aggregate ■. . $1,207,831 



Consisting of: 

City Bonds 

Improvement Bonds 

Paving Bonds 

City Hall Bonds . . . 
Water Bonds 



$9,831 
187,000 
100,000 

24,000 
887,000 



The story of Atlantic City's wonderful growth and prosperity is told 
in the following figures: 



[854 

1857 
[860 
1 8( .5 
1S70 
1X75 
1880 
[885 
1890 
[895 
i8< 



(First Election) 



Voters Population Assessed Valuation 

l8 IOO 

77 400 

119 687 

12') 746 

173 i.o43 

458 2,009 880,025 

962 5477 1,707,760 

1.676 7.942 2,602,312 

2,840 i3. 37 4>4I5, 8q 6 

3,600 18.329 12.172,646 

Estimated) 5.680 25,000 15.000,000 




118 




m 



A TLANT/C 



O CEA/V 




MAP OF 

ATLANTIC CITY 

SHOW/NG /O AI/LE BEACH FROM 

INLET to LONGPORT. 

PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR 

Tttg tmeLT tumour ms,Tot*Y 
•1899- 



o"?+ 



5ca 



Ic of Feei- 



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